Rogue Trader (1999)

The story of Nick Leeson (Ewan McGregor), an ambitious investment broker who singlehandedly bankrupted one of the oldest and most important banks in Britain.

Director:

James Dearden

Writers:

James Dearden, Nick Leeson (autobiography)

Stars:

Ewan McGregor, Anna Friel, Cristian Solimeno

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cristian Solimeno	...	Steve (as Christian Solimeno)
Ewan McGregor	...	Nick Leeson
Lorna Pegler	...	Girlfriend in Pub
David Fahm	...	Boyfriend in Pub
Tim McInnerny	...	Tony Hawes
Cecil Chang	...	Old Custodian
Michelle Lee	...	Susi (as Sarah Liew)
Anna Friel	...	Lisa Leeson
Michael Garner	...	Alec Sims
Sharon Duce	...	Patsy Sims
Karen Lim	...	Singapore Letting Agent
Pip Torrens	...	Simon Jones
Tom Wu	...	George Seow
Daniel York	...	Henry Tan
Irene Ng	...	Bonnie Lee

Storyline

Ambitious, wide-eyed boy Nick Leeson (Ewan McGregor) is determined to rise in the world and be more than a simple bank clerk. When his employers, Barings Bank, offer him the opportunity to go to Jakarta, Indonesia to sort out a problem that nobody else wants, he seizes the opportunity with both hands. In Jakarta, he meets and marries Lisa (Anna Friel), and together they go to Singapore when the bank offers him the job of setting up their future options trading operation. To save money, the bank allows Nick to operate the floor trading and the back office facilities, and force him to employ cheap, unskilled staff. His first year of trading is a big success, and he makes large profits for the bank, even though he has illegally broken trading rules and secretly covered up losses. Given more freedom, even more money, and continuing unchecked, Nick starts to make losses, and again attempts to trade out of them, but this time he comes unstuck as his illegal trading generates even bigger ...

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Plot Keywords:

hare krishna | bank | money | barings bank | singapore | 

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Taglines:

Money isn't for greedy people

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | History | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 June 1999 (UK)

Also Known As:

Vild satsning

Filming Locations:

Fleet Street, Holborn, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$12,800,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Granada Film Productions, Newmarket Capital Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nick Leeson was reported to have taken a share of the seven million pounds sterling that this movie earned worldwide.

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Goofs

On the trading-floor, the hand-signals bear no relation to the ones used by real traders, and caused much amusement in stock-exchanges around the world.

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Quotes

[Nick and Lisa are fleeing Asia on a flight to Frankfurt]
Nick Leeson: Did you say we stop at Abu Dhabi?
Lisa Leeson: Yeah.
Nick Leeson: That's where they cut your hands off.
Lisa Leeson: Oh, don't be ridiculous. They'd just stone you.
[they start laughing hysterically]
Nick Leeson: Poor old Barings, eh? That's what you get for hiring the wrong sort of person.

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Connections

Featured in De wereld draait door: Episode #4.51 (2008)

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Soundtracks

Release the Pressure
Written by Neil Barnes, Paul Daley
Performed by Leftfield

User Reviews

Acting, not budget

We were impressed at the quality of acting in this relatively low budget film. Rather than special effects and technical events, this movie very successfully brings you into Nick Leeson's world. It is certainly not an apology for Mr. Leeson, Ewan McGregor very effectively and subtly captures the drivenness that envelopes Mr. Leeson and, of course, undoes him and the bank. This movie brought us into a world that we knew little of, and helped us understand it from the inside out.