Rogue Trader (1999)

The story of Nick Leeson, 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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on Nick Leeson's 1996 book about his time at Barings Bank.

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Goofs

When Nick is printing a letter for the auditor, the date says December 1994. He prints this on a Canon BJC-4550 printer, which had his first sale in 1996.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Nick Leeson: [voiceover] Despite rumours of secret bank accounts and hidden millions, I did not profit personally from my unlawful trading. To be absolutely honest, sometimes I wish I had.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Rock the Casbah
Written by Topper Headon, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Joe Strummer
Performed by The Clash

User Reviews

I enjoyed it

I disagree with the other reviews here. I enjoyed the movie very much and I don't even know a bond from a stock from a box of crackers, nor did the know the story of this man and what transpired. But the movie explains a lot as its going along, and by the end, I was interested to know exactly how much he was going to get away with. Ewan is terrific as always.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 June 1999 (UK)

Also Known As:

Rogue Trader

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