And You May Find Yourself Watching Alexander Payne’s ‘Downsizing’ Teaser

When a movie trailer busts out ‘Once In a Lifetime’ by Talking Heads, it implies a couple things. We’re probably dealing with a film about someone at a crossroads, more specifically someone in middle age. The song finds frontman David Byrne unable to recognize the humble domestic life he’s built for himself, hoping to break out of the humdrum. So what if the first teaser for Alexander Payne’s hotly anticipated new film Downsizing plays it close to the vest with details? From the soundtrack selection alone, we can tell it’s about a man approaching an existential crisis.

Matt Damon portrays a man who elects to undergo an experimental procedure that will shrink him to the approximate size of a Playmobil figurine. This, the movie tells us, is the way of the future: if everyone was eensy-weensy, it’d instantaneously solve the global food shortage, the overpopulation issue, and the matter of climate change. But there’s something fishy going on in this dystopian world, and I can’t say I entirely trust the smirking scientist portrayed by Christoph Waltz. Also in the mix are Vietnamese-American breakout Hong Chau and comedy vets Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis. (It’s good fun to imagine the two of them on set, whispering, “Hey, remember back when we were on SNL? Life is weird sometimes.”)

This teaser saves all the good stuff for the full trailer set for a release on September 12, following the premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. And for now, the more impatient among you can peruse the earliest reviews coming in from the film’s world premiere in Venice last night. Early word is positive — lots of cause for optimism.