Too Big to Fail (2011)

Chronicles the financial meltdown of 2008 and centers on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Director:

Curtis Hanson

Writers:

Peter Gould, Andrew Ross Sorkin (book)

Stars:

James Woods, John Heard, William Hurt

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 5 wins & 28 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Woods	...	Richard Fuld
John Heard	...	Joe Gregory
William Hurt	...	Henry Paulson
Erin Dilly	...	Christal West
Amy Carlson	...	Erin Callan
Topher Grace	...	Jim Wilkinson
Ayad Akhtar	...	Neel Kashkari
Cynthia Nixon	...	Michele Davis
Kathy Baker	...	Wendy Paulson
Edward Asner	...	Warren Buffett
Paul Giamatti	...	Ben Bernanke
Beau Baxter	...	Skip McGee
Ben Livingston	...	Investment Banker
Erin Burnett	...	Herself
Chance Kelly	...	Bart McDade

Storyline

A close look behind the scenes, between late March and mid-October, 2008: we follow Richard Fuld's benighted attempt to save Lehman Brothers; conversations among Hank Paulson (the Secretary of the Treasury), Ben Bernanke (chair of the Federal Reserve), and Tim Geithner (president of the New York Fed) as they seek a private solution for Lehman's; and, back-channel negotiations among Paulson, Warren Buffet, investment bankers, a British regulator, and members of Congress as almost all work to save the U.S. economy. By the end, with the no-strings bailout arranged, modest confidence restored on Wall Street, and a meltdown averted, Paulson wonders if banks will lend.

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Plot Keywords:

financial | global economic crisis of 2008 | year 2008 | financial system | economic crisis | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | News

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 May 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Demasiado Grande Para Falhar

Filming Locations:

JC Studios, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Deuce Three Productions, HBO Films, Home Box Office (HBO)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film takes place in 2008.

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Quotes

Michele Davis: They almost bring down the US economy as we know but we can't put restrictions on how they spend the $125 billion we're giving them because... they might not take it!
[the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Affairs upon hearing that the 9 bank CEOs may refuse to take free money from the federal government if they had to be held accountable for how they spent it]

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Connections

Featured in The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards (2011)

User Reviews

sf category

If you intend to watch this movie for entertainment purposes - probably you can pick something better than financial meltdown, however if you intend to watch this movie for the purpose of better insight on what really happened - you should skip it and look further.. poor attempt to create superman heroes out of paulson, bernanke and entire banking safeguard crowd. During the movie, i honestly didn't know if i should laugh or cry ..it is honestly sad and tragedy if they sell this material to anyone on this planet as a story of what truly happened. there is a good reason why banking industry calls equity stocks "stock markets retard brother" .. money market is where the money rolls and everyone in the chain is holding the ladder and full control is in place. I am not one of these conspiracy theories type, this has nothing to do with conspiracy - just corruption beyond possibility to comprehend..and turns - sadly out, that even HBO is holding the ladder... Paulson doesn't even has to bother one day to write himself a beautiful perky biography, script of this movies will do just fine ..as if he wrote it..