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Reese Witherspoon and Matt Damon will join Alexander Payne’s ‘Downsizing’

Reese Witherspoon and Matt Damon will join Alexander Payne’s ‘Downsizing’

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One of Reese Witherspoon’s breakout roles was as the ambitious and persnickety Tracy Flick in Alexander Payne’s second film Election. Since then, the pair has yet to work together, but Deadline reported Wednesday that Witherspoon has joined Payne’s latest film, the much delayed Downsizing.

According to The Playlist, Downsizing was first conceived back in 2008 as a sci-fi social satire in which “enlightened,” possibly pretentious humans choose to shrink themselves down to 1/8 their size in an effort to scale back on Earth’s rapidly depleting resources. Witherspoon was originally attached along with Paul Giamatti, Meryl Streep, and Sacha Baron Cohen.

That version of the film never got made, and Payne went on to make The Descendants and Nebraska in the interim. But now Witherspoon is back onboard along with star Matt Damon.

And in a positive update, Deadline reported on Thursday that Downsizing would be picked up by Megan Ellison and Annapurna Pictures, along with an expanded cast that includes Alec Baldwin, Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Sudeikis.

So can we expect a new Payne film in 2016? If so, Downsizing will easily be at the top of my most anticipated list.

[wpchatai]