Trivia

According to the website Puck, the real Ken Griffin - portrayed in the film by Nick Offerman - "is locked in a nasty behind-the-scenes legal battle with Sony Pictures over his depiction in Dumb Money... Griffin has hired at least two separate law firms and sent multiple threatening letters... and he's consulting with crisis P.R. people to push back aggressively on his depiction by Offerman and the filmmaking team. Griffin claims the movie 'crosses the line into the knowingly false and defamatory portrayal of Ken and Citadel Securities.'" The Puck writer concluded, "Griffin seems unaware of the Streisand Effect, but perhaps his P.R. person can explain it to him."

The events depicted in this film occurred over a longer period than is alluded to, with Keith Gill first saying his famous phrase "I like the stock" on Reddit in January or February 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was about to hit. The events in the film unraveled over the 12 months, with Gill finally testifying (as seen in the film) in February 2021. Gill had actually been trading in small amounts of GameStop stock since 2019, having paid $5 per share back then, but when the price dropped to $3 a share as the pandemic hit and he was temporarily laid off from his full time job, he actively took to playing the market with this one company on a hunch and posting on social media about it, citing that with nothing else to do during COVID restrictions, young Americans will resort to playing video games more and more. This logic gained traction and word spread among communities that he may have hit upon something. As seen in the film, Wall Street brokers paid little attention at first until the figures just grew and grew and then they resorted to illegal tactics to quash it.

The real Ken Griffin apparently tried every tactic to dissuade the film from being made including sending actor Nick Offerman a 'cease and desist' letter threatening personal legal action against him for playing him in the film. Sony's lawyers reviewed it and said it was unconstitutional , guilty of restrictive practice and "...just the rantings of an angry man looking to blame everyone. ". They also told Offerman to go ahead and continue in the role and they would have his back "...if Griffin was ever stupid enough to try and take this to court against the advice of his own lawyers". Offerman's response was " Guess that's one person I won't be getting a Christmas card from then".

The red microphone on his desk and picture of the kitten in the background along with Gill's red bandana hanging of it (as a sign of rebellion) when he gives his online testimony are all accurately portrayed in this film.

One montage contains clips of Matthew McConaughey in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and Christian Bale in The Big Short (2015). Both films saw significant resurgences in popularity in early 2021 due to the GamesStop short.