Alexander Payne

THERE'S A CERTAIN kind of pressure that comes from being known as a film-lover's filmmaker, one whose dark comedies generate buzz, tackle serious subjects and invariably make money at the box office. But Alexander Payne, who has a knack for attracting big stars to act in small films about the human condition, takes it all in stride. George Clooney wore Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops while dealing with family issues in The Descendants (2011). Jack Nicholson played a retired insurance executive who goes on a transformative road trip in About Schmidt (2002). Payne also hit the jackpot with Election (1999) - cited by former US president Barack Obama as his favourite political movie - and Sideways (2004), forever enshrined as a classic that provided Paul Giamatti with a star turn and poked fun at Merlot.

Payne, 56, whose grandfather Nicholas Papadopoulos (later anglicised to Payne) emigrated from Greece in the early-1910s and settled in Omaha, Nebraska, grew up in a neighbourhood called Dundee-Happy Hollow - a perfect name for a midwestern suburb if ever there was one. His grandfather (and later his father George) ran a popular 24-hour restaurant named The Virginia Café. Omaha often serves as the setting for his films about people at odds with themselves and the world at large. Payne owns a home there and intends to live there permanently.

His latest offering - just the seventh feature in a career spanning 25 years - is Downsizing, a high-concept sci-fi fantasy about a man (played by Matt Damon) who goes small (literally) to realise his dreams, only to discover that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. The film by the oft-nominated two-time Oscar-winner (Best Adapted Screenplay for Sideways and The Descendants) represents a departure from his previous works because of a big budget, significant special effects - and a disappointing response from critics and audiences to date. Still, there's no denying that Payne is one of the few A-list directors out there with a proven ability to find humour and pathos in true-to-life depictions of ordinary people. "It's all about the story," he says.