Movie fans finally got another star-sighting Wednesday. Kristen Wiig joined Matt Damon as filming of Alexander Payne’s ‘Downsizing’ continued in Omaha.
Wiig and Damon spent much of the evening filming a scene outside Creighton Prep, which is one of the local sites selected by Payne for the movie. Payne went to high school there. Cast and crew have moved all over Omaha the past week shooting scenes for the upcoming movie.
"We feel like there's no way to capture this other than to be here, and it's not a trivial thing to come out and [film] a movie like this,” said writer Jim Taylor. “That takes a lot of effort to make sure that happens.”
Taylor is an Oscar-winning writer who has worked with Payne on several other projects, including ‘Sideways,’ ‘About Schmidt’ and ‘Election.’
He said filming certain scenes in Omaha was a prerequisite for the movie, which the pair had been working on for quite some time.
Payne signed autographs before he began the evening shoot. Brian Dietrich brought along an article about Payne’s Omaha Press Club award, which the director happily signed.
“If you stick around long enough, things can happen,” Dietrich said with a smile pointing to the autograph. “One way or the other, Yogi Berra said, 90% of showing up.”
Taylor said the scene filmed in a parking lot behind Creighton Prep, happens as Damon and Wiig’s characters walk into a class reunion. The social satire story is based on Damon’s character realizing he would have a better life if he were to shrink himself.
“Even though this is a bigger movie then we've made before, our goals are still the same,” Taylor said. “[We want the audience] to laugh, to learn something about themselves maybe, at the end day, feel like their thoughts have been provoked so it doesn’t feel like they’re going to school.”
Crowds lined up for a glimpse of both Damon and Wiig. The pair waved at children gathered with their families, who giggled and waved back during the taping.
The cast and crew also took over downtown Omaha near 10th and Harney part of Wednesday night.
