Christoph Waltz Joins Matt Damon in Alexander Payne's 'Downsizing'

By Justin Kroll

Christoph Waltz and Hong Chau are on board to join Matt Damon and Reese Witherspoon in Alexander Payne’s dramedy Downsizing.

Payne is co-writing with Jim Taylor, with Paramount to distribute.

The film will mark the third time Paramount and Payne have worked together, following Election and Nebraska.

Downsizing tells the story of an Omaha man who joins the throngs of people undergoing a new process that reduces people to a tiny fraction of their size before moving to one of the many communities of small people that are sprouting up around the world.

The film will be produced by Payne and Mark Johnson and will begin production this spring. Taylor and Jim Burke are exec producing.

The film is expected to bow in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Waltz recently added Bond villain to his credits, starring as the antagonist to 007 in Spectre. He can be seen next as the nemesis to the King of the Jungle in Warner Bros.’ The Legend of Tarzan.

He is also making his directorial debut with The Worst Marriage in Georgetown, which he also will star in. He is repped by ICM Partners, Players Agentur Management and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern.

Chau made her feature film debut in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice. Along with the film’s director, casting director and cast, she received the 2015 Robert Altman Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Her most recent TV credits include the critically acclaimed HBO series Treme and the NBC series, A TO Z. She currently is shooting HBO’s Big Little Lies alongside Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman.

She is represented by manager Jason Shapiro at Silver Lining Entertainment and attorney Mitch Smelkinson at Stone, Meyer, Genow, Smelkinson & Binder, LLP.