The Big Short (2015)

Four denizens in the world of high-finance predict the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s, and decide to take on the big banks for their greed and lack of foresight.

Director:

Adam McKay

Writers:

Charles Randolph (screenplay), Adam McKay (screenplay)

Stars:

Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling

Won 1 Oscar. Another 31 wins & 71 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryan Gosling	...	Jared Vennett
Rudy Eisenzopf	...	Lewis Ranieri
Casey Groves	...	Fund Manager
Charlie Talbert	...	Lewis Bond Trader
Harold Gervais	...	Lewis Bond Trader
Maria Frangos	...	Exotic Dancer
Christian Bale	...	Michael Burry
Hunter Burke	...	Analyst
Bernard Hocke	...	Coach
Shauna Rappold	...	Michael Burry's Mom
Brandon Stacy	...	Michael Burry's Dad
Aiden Flowers	...	Young Michael Burry
Peter Epstein	...	Paul Baum
Anthony Marble	...	Therapy Businessman
Silas Cooper	...	Therapy Businessman

Storyline

Three separate but parallel stories of the U.S mortgage housing crisis of 2005 are told. Michael Burry, an eccentric ex-physician turned one-eyed Scion Capital hedge fund manager, has traded traditional office attire for shorts, bare feet and a Supercuts haircut. He believes that the US housing market is built on a bubble that will burst within the next few years. Autonomy within the company allows Burry to do largely as he pleases, so Burry proceeds to bet against the housing market with the banks, who are more than happy to accept his proposal for something that has never happened in American history. The banks believe that Burry is a crackpot and therefore are confident in that they will win the deal. Jared Vennett with Deutschebank gets wind of what Burry is doing and, as an investor believes he too can cash in on Burry's beliefs. An errant telephone call to FrontPoint Partners gets this information into the hands of Mark Baum, an idealist who is fed up with the corruption in the ...

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Plot Keywords:

bank | fraud | banking | finance | mortgage | 

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Taglines:

This is a true story

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Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive language and some sexuality/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 December 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$28,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$705,527 (USA) (11 December 2015)

Gross:

$70,235,322 (USA) (1 April 2016)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Plan B Entertainment, Regency Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steve Eiseman, the inspiration for the character Mark Baum, met CDO specialist Wing Chau at Okada, a Japanese restaurant at the Wynn Las Vegas. Okada had closed by the time this movie was shot, so Harrah's casino in New Orleans was used.

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Goofs

In the flashback of Burry playing football as a child, rubber crumbs from field turf are on his arm when he is helped off the field. Field Turf was invented in the late 1990s, and wasn't available for recreational sports until almost 10 years later.

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Quotes

Ben Rickert: If we're right, people lose homes. People lose jobs. People lose retirement savings, people lose pensions. You know what I hate about fucking banking? It reduces people to numbers. Here's a number - every 1% unemployment goes up, 40,000 people die, did you know that?

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Connections

Featured in The 88th Annual Academy Awards (2016)

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Soundtracks

Big Dipper
Written and Performed by Nicholas Britell

User Reviews

The rich get rich and the poor get evicted. Ain't we got Fun

Don't know how Adam McKay made deplorable humans, blinding fear, gut-boiling outrage and gleeful shaming so much fun to watch. He brought along his bag o' laffs but planted them in such rich soil so we had to hack our way through the thick underbrush of tainted greenbacks and marked decks.

Everyone's in top form. Didn't recognize Brad Pitt for awhile. Ryan Gosling funniest. Christian Bale let us feel his pain and lonely genius. Steve Carell dug deep and came up with a real mensch.

Nice to see Marisa Tomei, Hamish Linklater, John Magaro, Rafe Spall, Finn Wittrock, Max Greenfield and talented others working at a solid level.

I walked out of the Westwood Bruin Theater in awe and mad as hell.