You know that with Brad Pitt, Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling costarring, Plan B’s big-screen adaptation of Michael Lewis’s The Big Short” could be an award-season contender when it pops in ’16 or ’17. Margin Call, Wall Street, Boiler Room…that line of country. But not — I repeat not — with Adam McKay, by any standard a low-rent comedy guy and commercial opportunist, directing and writing. Wells to Pitt and producing partner Dede Gardner: Do this project a huge favor and get rid of McKay, a troglodyte whose only noteworthy directing credit is Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, and bring on Bennett Miller…please. Don’t allow McKay to degrade this thing. Pay him off and get rid of him. McKay co-wrote Ant-Man and has a co-story credit on The Campaign. A ten-year-old could tell you where his sensibilities lie.
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Lewis’ 2011 nonfiction book tells the story of the 21st Century housing and credit bubble that led to the financial wipeout of ’08. Justin Kroll‘s Variety story states that the forthcoming film “will likely feature several A-list actors who have similiar-sized roles, similar to the cast of Traffic or The Counselor.
From the Amazon page: “The real story of the crash began in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn’t shine and the SEC doesn’t dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower — and middle — class Americans who can’t pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren’t talking.”
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