Alexander Payne is getting back to work with some familiar faces. According to Variety, Alexander Payne is putting the finishing touches on his new screenplay, Downsizing, and, although no deals are in place, he already has some big names secured, with Paul Giamatti, Reese Witherspoon and Sacha Baron Cohen already committing to the film.

Payne is writing the screenplay with his writing partner Jim Taylor, and the film is said to surround small people. Giamatti, who starred in Payne's last film, Sideways, would star here as a financially-strapped man who decides he would live a better life if he went through the process of shrinking himself. Witherspoon would play a woman he meets after the shrinking and Cohen will play a miniature foreigner he meets along the way.

It was said the film would likely be set up at Fox Searchlight, where Payne has a first-look deal, but this film would likely require a much bigger budget and special effects than his earlier films, which might be too costly for the indie studio.