Looks like Jeffrey Wells’ Alexander Payne tip about “Downsizing” was on the money. According to Variety, he’s putting the final touches on the script (which is basically what Wells reported yesterday. However, hold the phone, the movie is about midgets little people??
Variety one-ups the report saying Paul Giamatti, Sacha Baron Cohen and Reese Witherspoon have already all committed to star in the film, which presumably would find a home at Fox Searchlight, where Payne has a first-look deal (however no deals are in place). Update: Wait a minute, reading this again closely — we were on the run yesterday — it appears this has a Nutty Professor bent where a financially troubled man purposely shrinks himself down to enjoy the easier life of little people? Wow, this is just strange and absurd and sounds nothing like something Payne would write (then again, he did write some of, “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry”).
Evidently Giamatti and Witherspoon play “a married couple who are low on money and decide they can have a much nicer life retiring as little people. Witherspoon’s character decides to pull out at the last minute, leaving Giamatti as the sole tiny person in the union.”
According to the Trade, Cohen is playing two roles, “a pint-sized Spaniard and his normal-sized twin brother and business partner, though insiders say that since the script is a work in progress, that role may evolve.
So wait, there is going to be some weird CGI to make them look small? Yup, Variety says the film “would require considerable special effects and could push the budget out of Searchlight’s realm.” No word on Meryl Streep’s involvment as Wells reported.