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

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

When Nick and George are driving in the Porsche, their seat belts are on/off between shots.

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Quotes

Nick Leeson: [vomits in front of a Rolls-Royce then looks at his reflection in the grille] Looking like shit, Nick. Looking like fucking shit, mate.

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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

Pulling non-existent rabbits out of imaginary hats

A cunning scoundrel in exotic Singapore single-handedly brings down Barings Bank, established two centuries ago and one of England's foremost financial institutions. Another wildly improbable sting flick? Not at all - the story is based on actual events and the film sticks pretty close to the facts. Nick Leeson, brilliant and ambitious young trader, superstar of the Singapore stock market, incurs staggering losses. Unwilling to jeopardize his prospects for advancement, he tries to cover his tracks by pulling non-existent rabbits out of imaginary hats. The literally gut-wrenching stress of this Sisyphusian endeavor is illustrated by Leeson's frequent bouts of vomiting (while in prison, he underwent surgery to remove a tumor along with part of his colon and large intestine, and chemotherapy after being released). The film's flaw is that it glosses over the bank's role in the disaster. Barings turned a neophyte loose in an foreign arena with total control of the operation and minimal supervision. Putting the same individual in charge of both the front office and back office bypasses the appropriate checks and balances, and is tantamount to having the fox guard the hen-house. The official report of the Bank of England concluded that Barings' failure to segregate Leeson's duties was "reprehensible," and those with "direct executive responsibility for establishing effective controls must bear much of the blame." Yet little mention is made of this in the film. And the mechanizations of the stock market are downright incomprehensible at times. Nevertheless, this is an interesting story and Ewan McGregor turns in another outstanding performance.

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