| The Big Short | |
|---|---|
.png) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Adam McKay |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | The Big Short byMichael Lewis |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Barry Ackroyd |
| Edited by | Hank Corwin |
| Music by | Nicholas Britell |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 130 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50 million[2] |
| Box office | $133.4 million[3] |
The Big Short is a 2015 Americanbiographicalcomedy drama film directed byAdam McKay from a screenplay by McKay andCharles Randolph. Based on the 2010book of the same name byMichael Lewis, it depicts how the2008 financial crisis was triggered by theUnited States housing bubble.[4] The film starsChristian Bale,Steve Carell,Ryan Gosling, andBrad Pitt, withJohn Magaro,Finn Wittrock,Hamish Linklater,Rafe Spall,Jeremy Strong, andMarisa Tomei in supporting roles.
The Big Short began alimited release in the United States on December 11, 2015, followed by awide release on December 23 byParamount Pictures.[5][6] A critical and commercial success, the film grossed $133 million on a $50 million budget and received acclaim for the performances of the cast (particularly those of Bale and Carell), McKay's direction, editing, and the screenplay. The film won theAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in addition to nominations forBest Picture,Best Director,Best Supporting Actor (Bale), andBest Film Editing.
The film consists of three separate but concurrent stories, loosely connected by their actions in the years leading up to the2008 financial crisis.
In 2005, eccentrichedge fund managerMichael Burry discovers that the United Stateshousing market, based on high-risksubprime loans, isextremely unstable. Anticipating the market's collapse in the second quarter of 2007, as interest rates would rise fromadjustable-rate mortgages, he proposes to create acredit default swap (CDS) market formortgage-backed securities (MBSs), allowing him to bet against, orshort, MBSs for profit.
His long-term bet, exceeding $1 billion, is accepted by majorinvestment andcommercial banks but requires paying substantial monthlypremiums. This sparks his main client, Lawrence Fields, to accuse him of "wasting"capital while many clients demand that he reverse and sell, but Burry refuses. Under pressure, he eventually restricts withdrawals, angering investors, and Fields sues Burry. Eventually, the2008 financial crisis began and his fund's value increases by 489% with an overall profit (even allowing for the massive premiums) of over $2.69 billion, with Fields alone receiving $489 million.
Jared Vennett (based onGreg Lippmann),[7] the executive in charge of global asset-backed securities trading atDeutsche Bank,[8] is one of the first bankers to understand Burry's analysis, learning from one of the bankers who sold Burry an early CDS. Using hisquant to verify that Burry is most likely correct, he decides to enter the market and purchase CDSs himself. However, his large monthly premiums result in him looking to reduce the size of his position by selling CDSs. A misplaced phone call alertsFrontPoint Partners hedge fund manager Mark Baum (based onSteve Eisman), who is motivated to buy swaps from Vennett due to his low regard for banks' ethics and business models. Vennett explains that the packaging of subprime loans intocollateralized debt obligations (CDOs) ratedAAA will guarantee their eventual collapse.
Conducting a field investigation in South Florida, the FrontPoint team discovers thatmortgage brokers are profiting by selling their mortgage deals toWall Street banks, which pay higher margins for the riskier mortgages, creating the bubble. This knowledge prompts the FrontPoint team to buy CDSs from Vennett.
In early 2007, as these loans begin to default, CDO prices somehow rise and ratings agencies refuse to downgrade the bond ratings. Baum discoversconflicts of interest anddishonesty amongst the credit rating agencies from an acquaintance atStandard & Poor's. Vennett invites the team to the American Securitization Forum in Las Vegas, where Baum learns from a CDO manager that the market for insuring mortgage bonds, including "synthetic CDOs" which are bets in favor of the faulty mortgage bonds, is significantly larger than the market for the mortgage loans themselves, leading a horrified Baum to realize the entire world economy is set to collapse.
As the subprime bonds continue to fall, Baum learns thatMorgan Stanley, under whose umbrella FrontPoint operates, had alsotaken short positions against mortgage derivatives. However, in order to offset the risk and the monthly premiums, it had sold short positions in higher-rated mortgage derivatives. Now that these are also collapsing in value, Morgan Stanley is facing severe liquidity problems. Despite pressure from his staff to sell their position before Morgan Stanley collapses, Baum refuses to sell until the economy is on the verge of collapsing, making over $1 billion in their CDSs. Even so, Baum laments that the banks, as well as the government, will not admit what caused the economy to collapse, but will instead blame "immigrants and poor people."
Young investors Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley run a small firm called Brownfield Fund (based on the firmCornwall Capital). They accidentally discover a marketing presentation by Vennett on a coffee table in the lobby ofJPMorgan Chase (the characters address the audience stating that in reality they had heard about Vennett's plan through word-of-mouth from friends and publications), convincing them to invest in CDSs (the insurance against CDOs), as it fits their strategy of buying cheap insurance with big potential payouts. As they are far below the capital threshold for anInternational Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA)Master Agreement required to enter into trades like Burry's and Baum's, they enlist the aid of Ben Rickert, Shipley's neighbor and a retired securities trader who was based inSingapore.
When the bond values and CDOs rise despite defaults, Geller suspects the banks are committing fraud. The trio also visit the American Securitization Forum, where they learn that theSEC has no regulations to monitor mortgage-backed security activity. They successfully make profit by shorting the higher-rated AA mortgage securities, as they were considered highly stable and carried a much higher payout ratio.
Later, as home mortgage defaults increase, the price of their CDSs does not rise nor does the price of the underlying mortgage bonds drop, and they realize the banks and the ratings agencies are secretly freezing the price of their CDOs in order to sell and short them before the inevitable crash. Outraged at the banks' cheating, Geller and Shipley try to tip off the press about the upcoming disaster and the rampant fraud, but a reporter fromThe Wall Street Journal whom they have known since college and regard as principled declines to report the story in the interest of preserving his relationships with Wall Street investment banks. As the market starts collapsing, Ben, on vacation in England, sells their CDSs. Ultimately, they turn their $30 million investment into $80 million, but their faith in the system is broken when Ben tells them of the severe consequences for the general public.
Jared Vennett receives a bonus of $47 million for profits made on his CDSs. Mark Baum becomes more gracious from the financial fallout, and his staff continue to operate their fund. Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley go their separate ways after unsuccessfully trying to sue the ratings agencies, with Jamie still running the fund and Charlie moving toCharlotte to start a family. Ben Rickert returns to his peaceful retirement. Michael Burry closes his fund after public backlash and multiple IRSaudits, now investing only in water securities.
The personnel of the banks responsible for the crisis escape any consequences for their actions, with the single exception of one trader,Kareem Serageldin. It is noted that as of 2015, banks are selling CDOs again under a new label: "Bespoke Tranche Opportunity".
Several celebrities appear as themselves throughout the film in interstitials to explain different financial aspects of the film.Margot Robbie appears to explainmortgage-backed security,Anthony Bourdain to detailcollateralized debt obligation, andRichard Thaler andSelena Gomez to describecredit default swap andsynthetic CDO. The realMichael Burry appears in a cameo as a worker at Scion Capital.
In 2013,Paramount acquired the rights to the 2010 non-fiction bookThe Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine byMichael Lewis, to develop it into a film, whichBrad Pitt'sPlan B Entertainment would produce.[9] On March 24, 2014,Adam McKay was hired to write and direct a film about the housing andeconomic bubble.[4] ScreenwriterCharles Randolph, who co-wrote the film with McKay, said one of the first challenges was finding the right tone for the film. He toldCreative Screenwriting, "In general it was trying to find the right tone that was slightly funnier than your averageMiloš Forman comedy, which is all grounded character-based but not so satirical where you gotWag the Dog. Somewhere between there was what I was shooting for. Once I got the tone down, then I went through the plot. The market's movements provided you with an underlying plot. You make your short deal, then the bank is trying to squeeze you out, and then it all breaks loose. So that was pretty easy, and it provided character arcs against that."[10] Two years after Randolph wrote his draft, McKay, as director, rewrote Randolph's screenplay. It was McKay's idea to include the celebrity cameos in the film to explain the financial concepts.[10]
On January 13, 2015,Variety reported thatBrad Pitt,Christian Bale, andRyan Gosling were set to star in the film, with Pitt producing the film along withDede Gardner andJeremy Kleiner.Plan B Entertainment would produce, with Paramount handling the distribution rights.[11] Before this, Pitt had already starred in the adaptation of the author'sMoneyball, for which he was nominated for an Oscar.[4][11] On January 14, it was announced thatSteve Carell would also star.[7] On April 21, 2015, more cast was revealed byDeadline, includingMelissa Leo,Marisa Tomei,Tracy Letts,Hamish Linklater,John Magaro,Byron Mann,Rafe Spall,Jeremy Strong, andFinn Wittrock.[12]Charles Randolph wrote the initial draft.[12]Max Greenfield joined the ensemble cast of the film on April 23, 2015.[13]Karen Gillan tweeted about her involvement in the film on May 8, 2015.[14] Jeffry Griffin, who plays Vennett's assistant Chris, was originally only planned to appear as anextra, and was cast to a speaking role after a production assistant picked him out of a crowd.[15][16]
Principal photography on the film began on March 18, 2015, inNew Orleans,Louisiana.[17][18] On March 25, filming was taking place on General de Gaulle Boulevard in theAlgiers section of New Orleans.[19] On May 8, Gillan confirmed she was shooting her scenes.[14] On May 20, 2015, filming took place on a short stretch of Mercer Street, betweenPrince Street andSpring Street, inManhattan,New York City.[20] On May 22, the production crew recreated the offices of failed investment firmLehman Brothers in the lobby of theNew York State Department of Financial Services in Manhattan.[21] An assistant counsel for the Department of Financial Services played one of the extras in the scene.[21]
On September 22, 2015, Paramount set the film for alimited release on December 11, 2015, and awide release on December 23, 2015.[22] The film was rated R by the Motion Picture Association (MPA, formerly MPAA) for pervasive language and some sexuality/nudity. The film was released onDVD andBlu-ray on March 15, 2016.[23]
The Big Short grossed $70.3 million in the United States and Canada and $63.2 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $133.4 million, against a production budget of $50 million.[3]
The film was released in eight theaters inLos Angeles,New York,San Francisco andChicago on December 11, 2015, and earned $705,527 (an average of $88,191 per theater). It set the record for the best ever per-screen gross for a film opening in eight locations, breaking the previous record held byMemoirs of a Geisha ($85,313 per theater),[24] and was the third biggest theater average of 2015 behind the four screen debuts ofSteve Jobs ($130,000) andThe Revenant ($118,640).[25]
The film had its wide release on December 23, 2015, and grossed $2.3 million on its first day. In its opening weekend it grossed $10.5 million, finishing 6th at the box office.[26]
Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,The Big Short has an approval rating of 89% based on 331 reviews, with anaverage rating of 7.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Big Short approaches a serious, complicated subject with an impressive attention to detail – and manages to deliver a well-acted, scathingly funny indictment of its real-life villains in the bargain."[27] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 81 out of 100 based on 45 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[28] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[26]
IGN gave the film a score of 8.6/10, praising its "energetic direction" and making "a complicated tale palpable for the layperson even as it triggers outrage at the fatcats who helped cause it".[29]
The New York Times' "UpShot" series statedThe Big Short offered the "strongest film explanation of the global financial crisis". The series also stated that it "wouldn't necessarily have been able to cash in as successfully as the characters inThe Big Short. The success of this film is due to the work of the actors who played the characters.”[30]
In 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition ofThe New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 133.[31]
David McCandless's visual blogInformation is Beautiful deduced that, while taking creative license into account, the film was 91.4% accurate when compared to real-life events, calling it a "shockingly truthful film" with "very little dramatization or fakery."[32]
Movie critics with backgrounds in finance also commented on the film. Many agreed with the public thatThe Big Short was entertaining and engaging, but also terrifying.Glenn Kenny reported that the film accurately got the message across that even though the lives of the characters were not interconnected, their stories were.[33]
While the general plot of the film is the same as the book, many of the character names have been changed. For example,Steve Eisman has become "Mark Baum" andGreg Lippmann has become "Jared Vennett". Some biographical information has also been slightly modified.[34]
Eisman has said that he respects Carell's portrayal but that it was not 100 percent true to his real character. Speaking toThe Globe and Mail, Eisman said, "Eliminate my sense of humor and make me angry all the time, and that's [Carell's] portrayal. It's accurate enough, but it's not really me."[35]
The film, along withThe Wolf of Wall Street, had a brief resurgence in the wake of the January 2021GameStop short squeeze as the events shown in the films provided reference points for what was happening with the GameStop and related stocks.[36]
Adam McKay andCharles Randolph won theOscar,[37]BAFTA,[38] andWGA[39] forBest Adapted Screenplay. They also won anEmpire Award for Best Screenplay.[40]Christian Bale won theCritics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor in a Comedy[41] and theSatellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture.[42]Hank Corwin won theAmerican Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy or Musical)[43] andLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Editing.[44]
The film won theCritics' Choice Movie Award for Best Comedy[41] and was named one of the Top 10 Films of the Year at theAmerican Film Institute Awards 2015.[45]Dede Gardner,Jeremy Kleiner, andBrad Pitt won theProducers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture.[46] The cast also won theNational Board of Review Award for Best Ensemble.[47]
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