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

After David Frost interviewed Nick Leeson in prison, he realized the potential for this movie and optioned the rights to the story.

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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 Leeson: I'd never even heard of Barings before I started working for them. It's not like there's a Barings Bank in Watford.
Lisa Leeson: Well, you're a big hero back in London, they think the sun shines out your arse.
Nick Leeson: Really? I was beginning to feel like one of those Japanese soldiers, you know, still stuck out in the jungle 20 years after the war.
Lisa Leeson: What's it like here? They tell it's not safe to go out at night.
Nick Leeson: That's bollocks, the locals are great. Best thing about this place is it's not still full of pompous ...
[...]

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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.