MGM has picked up the rights to Richard Matheson’s 1957 classic sci-fi novel The Shrinking Man, and they'll be adapting it into a feature length film. Matheson will write the screenplay with his son, Richard Matheson Jr. It will keep the tone of the original story but will be updated for modern times.
The story was written during the Atomic age, and it centers on a man who's exposed to mixture of radiation and insecticide that causes him to shrink. The updated story will involve science advancements such as nanotechnology. The movie was previously set up at Universal for years, and at one point Eddie Murphy was attached to star in it. Thank goodness that didn't happen!
Matheson described the story as “an existential action movie,” and went on to explain, “My original story was a metaphor for how man’s place in the world was diminishing. That still holds today, where all these advancements that are going to save us will be our undoing. It’s one of those fantasy concepts that does not age.”
The character is said to have inspired Stan Lee to create Ant-Man. This is a great story that could make for a great film so I hope they put together a solid team of talent to bring it to life.