Terry Gilliam is about to start shooting the very intriguing Zero Theorem, and he’s busy rounding out the cast, as it’s been revealed that Matt Damon is taking a small role in the movie, while Peter Stormare and Sanjeev Bhaskar have also signed up. Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton and Melanie Thierry are already set to star.

Vulture got the news on Damon, after they bumped into him at the premiere of Argo. He told them, ‘I’m just doing a very small part in [The Zero Theorem]. Someone finally gave him money to do this one, thank God. It’s with Christoph Waltz and Tilda Swinton. I’d do anything for Terry. It’s been ten years since I last worked with him [in The Brothers Grimm]. I wrote Terry this whole e-mail, because we had this whole conversation about what the character would look like, because the story takes place in the future, but he had a specific look that he wanted, but then I had to [points to shaved head, which he has for Elysium], and I said, “Terry, what should we do?” And he said, “Actually, we can take advantage of the fact that your head is shaved. Why don’t we change your hairline?” So he mocked up a picture and sent me a real receding hairline, with white spiked hair. “We might as well take advantage of the fact that you’re bald and really do something, present you in a way you’ve never been seen before.”’

We don’t know too much about Peter Stormare and Sanjeev Bhaskar’s characters either, although announcing the casting on Facebook, Gilliam said “Excitement at the front! Zero Theorem now has two more brilliant actors on board: Peter Stormare and Sanjeev Bhaskar. Not just comic geniuses but great friends. They will be sharing two parts at the same time. I hope you like the look.” Quite what that means isn’t clear.

The movie is about a scientist (Waltz) working on a theorem to determine the reason for human existence, who gets numerous visitors, some of whom may be deliberately trying to delay his work.