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, Yves Beneyton

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ewan McGregor	...	Nick Leeson
Anna Friel	...	Lisa Leeson
Yves Beneyton	...	Pierre Beaumarchais
Betsy Brantley	...	Brenda Granger
Caroline Langrishe	...	Ash Lewis
Nigel Lindsay	...	Ron Baker
Tim McInnerny	...	Tony Hawes
Irene Ng	...	Bonnie Lee
Lee Ross	...	Danny Argyropoulos
Simon Shepherd	...	Peter Norris
John Standing	...	Peter Baring
Pip Torrens	...	Simon Jones
Tom Wu	...	George Seow
Daniel York	...	Henry Tan
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Danny Argyropoulos	...	Trader #1

Storyline

Ambitious, wide-eyed boy Nick Leeson 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 to sort out a problem that nobody else wants, he seizes the opportunity with both hands. In Jakarta he meets and marries Lisa 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 both 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 losses. After the death of his unborn child ...

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

He'll risk everything to beat the system!

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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)

Opening Weekend:

£269,871 (United Kingdom), 27 June 1999, Limited Release

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 £7million that the film made worldwide.

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Goofs

Towards the end of the movie, in a scene where various newspapers were shown documenting the search for Leeson, a Chinese newspaper's caption for Leeson's picture actually reads "(Chinese Premier) Zhu Rongji Happily Meets (UK Prime Minister) Tony Blair".

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Quotes

Tony Hawes: He doesn't do things by the book, Ron. He just doesn't respect the rules. Is he really the kind of person we should be employing at Barings?
Ron Baker: Oh, fuck the rules, Tony. It's barrow boys like Nick who are turning the City of London around. You can't run a modern financial centre with a bunch of Hooray Henries.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Money (That's What I Want)
Written by Berry Gordy (as Berry Gordy Jr), Janie Bradford
Performed by Barrett Strong

User Reviews

Interesting story!

I found Rogue Trader to be a highly entertaining point of view regarding the Barings bank disaster of the mid 90's, from Nick Leeson himself. I once said, "I'm not crazy to see movies that I know the ending". However, I had to start eating my words after TITANIC. Now, I can add this to the list. Barings was the financial equivalent of the "unsinkable ship" and just like TITANIC, I was on the edge of my seat when the unthinkable was finally realized. A must see, minus heroes.