‘Downsizing’ star Matt Damon talks his role in the small world

— -- Imagine a big star like Matt Damon shrunk down to about five inches tall. That’s what happens to his character in the new film "Downsizing."

The actor talked about taking on the role to work with one of his "favorite directors," Alexander Payne, in an appearance on "Popcorn With Peter Travers."

"When he came to me he said, 'I have something we can do together’ and I got really excited and he pitched this idea," Damon said. “At first I thought he was joking, it seemed so absurd. But it’s a satire. And it’s about, if you just go with the premise that these Norwegian scientists have perfected this idea of shrinking us down as a way of offsetting climate change, as dumb as that sounds, then the rest of the movie really falls into place.”

“It’s like three percent of the global population starts to do this because they realize, forget about the climate change, we could actually consume more if we’re small," he added. "You can live like a king and kind of have your real American dream you can’t quite attain in the big world. But you can have it in your little world if you just make this choice to downsize."

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Damon pointed out that downsizing in the film also had its downsides.

“We downsize, but we bring our problems with us," Damon, 47, told Travers. "We bring the same class structure with us. We bring all of our humanity with us, the good and the bad. So the movie really follows this character that I play, Paul Safranek. He’s very naïve about the world that he lives in and about his place in it. And the movie really kind of is this journey that he goes on, this odyssey that he goes on.”

Travers asked Damon if he would actually shrink himself down if he could.

"No, I don’t think anybody would go for it," said Damon. "It seems a little bit ludicrous, but ultimately it’s a metaphor for why we let people treat us small."

"I just love the movie," Damon said. "I wouldn’t change a frame of it."

"Downsizing" hits theaters everywhere December 22.

Be sure to watch the full interview with Peter Travers and Matt Damon in the video above.