The Incredible Shrinking Man is a 1957 sci-fi horror film directed by Jack Arnold, based on the novel The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson (who also co-wrote the screenplay adaptation).
Grant Williams stars as Scott Carey, an ordinary man who is exposed to some type of dust cloud (generally assumed to be radioactive) and subsequently begins to slowly but inexorably shrink, eventually growing so miniscule that his wife Louise (Randy Stuart) is unable to see or hear him. Scott soon finds himself battling for his life against his pet cat and a spider, and confronts the possibility of eventually shrinking away to nothing.
Filming began on May 31, 1956. Scenes involving special effects were shot throughout production, while others used the large sets of Universal's back lot. Production went over budget, and filming had to be extended; certain special effects shots required reshooting. Williams was constantly being injured on set.
Before the film’s release in New York City on February 22, 1957, its ending first went to test audiences who felt the character’s fate should be changed. The director’s original ending remained in the film. The film grossed $1.43 million in the United States and Canada and was among the highest-grossing science fiction films of the 1950s.
A sequel, The Fantastic Little Girl, originally penned by Matheson, never went into production. A remake was developed years later, eventually becoming the comedy The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981). Other remakes were planned in the early 2000s, one of which was to star Eddie Murphy in a more comedic variation on the film. A new adaptation was announced in 2013, with Matheson writing the screenplay with his son Richard Christian Matheson. In 2009, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
