Excluded – Jan Kounen presents his version of The Shrinking Man, with Jean Dujardin

“It's an adventure film and a metaphysical drama…”

In a few months, Jean Dujardin will return to the cinema in front of the camera Jan Kounenwho directed him in 99 Francs : the two men are preparing a readaptation of the 50's SF adventure classic The Shrinking Man.

See you precisely on October 22, 2025 to discover their version in the cinema. Facing Kaamelott – Part twowhich is on the cover of our new special issue Preview 2025. Here is an extract from our interview with Jan Kounen about his rereading of the work of Richard Matheson.

Excluded – Alexandre Astier on Kaamelott Second part: “It ends smelling like a scorch…”

“It was Jean who initiated this project, he dreamed of remaking The shrinking man by Jack Arnold (1957) for years. He teamed up with Alain Goldman, who was the producer of 99Fto make it exist. They felt the subject could speak to me and they needed a director with technical know-how. In May 2022, I had lunch with Alain Goldman who suggested the film to me. “Are you interested?…” Of course I was interested! I had resolved to never make a fantastic film in my career, I had really given up on this old dream, and then…

I had discovered The shrinking man when I was around ten years old, I had never seen him since and yet I remembered everything: that shows the mark he left in my mind. However, I see our version more as a readaptation of Richard Matheson's book than as a remake of the film. We included a lot of important elements that were only in the book – which I had never read. On the other hand, we kept the linear structure of the film, the novel being told with an exploded chronology…”

Garden Gnome

“It’s an adventure film and a metaphysical drama. It will talk about survival, but also about resilience, acceptance and the impermanence of things. It’s an initiatory journey. Several American directors tried to adapt this story again but each time it failed, in my opinion because the strangeness and dramatic dimension of the project did not fit with what it implied in terms of budget. We managed to do it for less than 20 million euros, but it required a lot of ingenuity. »

To read more, and to discover other information on the most anticipated films of next year, go to on newsstands.