wow, this should be a great film considering the big names, thoughts?
from bloomberg:
Brad Pitt, Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling are set to star in a film version of “The Big Short,” Michael Lewis’s book about investors who made fortunes in the subprime mortgage crisis, a person with knowledge of the matter said.Pitt’s company, Plan B, will produce the picture, said the person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. Lewis is a Bloomberg View columnist. Viacom Inc. (VIAB)’s Paramount Pictures announced the project in March.
The film will test the public’s appetite for financial-market drama. “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” follows a group of investors who bet against the residential subprime mortgage market before it collapsed. The book was published in 2010 and spent more than 28 weeks on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list, according to Hawes.com.
“Expectations are instantly high on this one, both commercially and artistically,” said Phil Contrino, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ proved that this type of film can make a lot of money.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-13/pitt-bale-to-star-in-film-vers…
That's the highest profile cast I've ever seen
mega box office hit here
Three things:
Is that the movie poster? It looks terrible.
The thought of Ryan Gosling talking about CDOs/CDSs is both amazing and amusing.
This film is gonna make $$$$
Can't wait for the questions from people who claim to be experts of the financial crisis and CD market after watching this movie.
Half the people in this country talk about the "economy" being good or bad and have absolutely no idea what it even means, like it's a machine somewhere being controlled by the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
They also seem to think you can predict the future.
Can Dick Fuld make a cameo appearance.
I love it. Bale & Pitt are awesome, Gosling is meh, would rather have Bradley Cooper but Gosling was good in gangster squad.
I'm betting they'll focus less on people like Michael Burry and more on Goldman Sachs & Lehman
Gosling was good in "Crazy Stupid Love". I thought that movie was going to be 100% chick flick, but it truly is a great movie. Completely hilarious and a great cast. Worth watching. I think he'll be fine in this, as long as he isn't the lead role.
Bale and Pitt together is almost as good as a Leo/Pitt combo
nohomo
From the Hollywood Reporter: 'Gosling is to play Deutsche Bank trader Greg Lippmann. Bale will portray Michael Burry, the founder of the Scion Capital and one of the first people to predict the coming crisis. In a supporting role, Pitt will take on Ben Hockett, a partner at Cornwall Capital.'
nice!
Further... 'If a deal makes, (Steve) Carell will join the trio, who are in various stages of talks, in the true-life drama, which chronicles multiple storylines and juggles various characters against the backdrop of the housing and credit bubbles of the 2000s that led to the 2007-08 global financial crisis.
Carell will play Steve Eisman, a money manager who shorted subprime mortgages for FrontPoint Partners.'
I struggle with dramatisations of finance because they are all so melodramatic.
Hollywood scripts look for heroes, villains, grandstanding cliches and breathy inspirational speeches.
I can't suspend my disbelief
The reality of finance is much more mundane, often self-depreciating, the lies often more subtle and more self-delusion than snickering evil capitalist in a top hat consciously fucking Main Street in every available orifice.
If people carried on in finance like they do in Hollywood views of finance, most of them would be fired.
You gotta admit, there are some that you could actually make a decent movie about. Take Angelo Mozilo for one. I would pay money to see that asshole portrayed on the big screen as... well, a huge asshole.
I read a book (not Lewis's) on John Paulson's Big Short. I don't know if it was the author's intention, but it gave the impression of a bunch of guys who came up with the right high level strategy (short the residential mortgage market), then bumbled their way through executing the strategy. Every 6 months of so, Paulson or one of his team has a conversation with some banker, suddenly realises they've invested in the wrong tranches or that there are financial products they've never heard of that give them more tailored exposure.
The same book was about 10% name dropping celebrity names, as if having some Hollywood name turning up to your 50th birthday is evidence of how big you are in finance.
I always thought Ed Thorp & John Kelly's stories were quite interesting, that would be a fantastic movie, and you could base it all off of "Fortune's Formula" by William Poundstone.
Interesting... it definitely seemed like the winners in Lewis's book were the ones that actually read into the details of the MBS securities they were wanting to short. What was so funny is that they didn't understand why others weren't seeing the writing on the wall, but they were all just lemmings not paying attention to the details. It was that obvious to anyone with an inquisitive mind, skeptical view, and a calculator.
I would consider myself full of shit if a ton of Hollywooders came to my birthday party no matter how successful I was. I would demand that everyone arrive in a Prius and drink only bottled water from Siberia or some craziness like that. Liberal Hollywood proved everything I've ever though about most of them when those rich white liberals started bitching on social media about Ferguson, MO.
Possibly that's a reflection of the Lewis style in recent years. He seems to like his villains and heroes. Or, at least, realises that Johhny Q. Reading Public sees the world through cliched glasses, so feeds them heroes and villains.
I read his book on high frequency traders and the lionising of the guy with the Japanese last name as the cliche "smart guy taking on the big boys" was embarrassing. The book ended up reading 40% legitimate attack on HFT, 60% marketing pitch for the Japanese last name guy's new exchange.
In that respect what did you think of Margin Call? I thought that one was well done while staying pretty grounded.
I liked Margin Call. The acting style was well done, realistic yet interesting watch.
Checked Amazon - the book I read was Zuckerman's "The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History".
This was a quick, non-discriminating grab and pay job at a bookstore.
Based on the first hand quotes and names the guy was citing, it sounded like he had a lot of first hand access.
On the other hand, ~25% of the book was back stories of the main characters (where they grew up, indelible lessons in business learned their first lemonade stand, who they dated) and 10% was names of celebrities who turned up to their parties, lived on the same block, once shared an elevator with them. About another 5% was their residential home purchases. Something had to pad the book out to 320 pages, I guess.
EDIT: The book also gives the very clear impression that the main players were driven by ego and a sense of inferiority. Not sure if this was intended by the author, either.
Bale and Pitt is a great combo. Gosling? I guess with an older Pitt they need to entice women to watch.
Awesome! This is Hollywood's ploy during the election season!
WHERE THE F IS THE LIAR'S POKER MOVIE
If and when this movie does well it will only exemplify the hypocritical nature of a portion of the American public. They vilify the big banks for taking advantage of the little guy during the financial crisis, and at the same time cheer for the Jordan Belfort archetype.
Amazing cast, can't wait for the movie.
Margin Call just wasn't that fun. I completely forgot that movie. I'm no film expert, but it's not a good thing when you completely forget a movie.
This one will be entertaining.
Key question: who is going to direct this picture?
according to the article, the same guy who directed anchorman, talladega nights, and step brothers
Sounds awesome. Although I liked Wolf of Wall St, I think this film has the potential to become much better if they resist the urge to overly dramatize. Great cast anyway.
sorry, double post
This is starting to sound like a pet project: "hey Ryan, how fun would it be to pretend to be a hedge fund guy, like all that math stuff and make less money then we really do" "Brad, you're ridiculous....like play time, or for real?" "ummm.....lets just make a film and make it ligit!" "cool, i'll see if Balio wants in"
Why Gosling?!?!?!.... Ugh why not Leo?
But Bale/Pitt should be good.
Really excited about this as long as they don't fuck it up. Steve Carell could be a great addition too, he can do serious pretty damn well.
Ryan Gosling as Lippmann...this should be interesting.
So I'm the only one that loves me some Gosling? Oh well. And agreed on Crazy Studid Love... funny and great movie. Def not your average chick flick. :) The cast sounds amazing and yummy. I am kind of over the remakes of the 2008 financial crisis but this angle & story line sounds juicy...
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