Dumb Money Trailer: Paul Dano Takes on Wall Street in Cinematic Account of GameStop Stock Frenzy

Dumb Money, the film chronicling the GameStop stock market frenzy in 2021, has just received a trailer. The film marks director Craig Gillespie’s foray into adapting real-life stories – since 2017’s I, Tonya – and is set to hit theaters on September 22. Starring Paul Dano in the lead, it’s essentially a David versus Goliath comedy-drama about real-life YouTuber Keith Gill, who hired billionaire hedge fund managers, who bet that the stock price of physical retailer GameStop would fall. . The shocking events were condensed into author Ben Mezrich’s novel “The Antisocial Network,” from which the film draws its plot.

The Dumb Money trailer opens with screenshots from Reddit and archived footage from news channels reporting the GameStop short squeeze that sent Wall Street into a frenzy. We then go back six months, where YouTuber Keith Gill is live streaming and spreading his message on Reddit, trying to encourage people to invest in GameStop stock. You see, Wall Street is betting that GameStop will fail and if it does, a group of hedge fund managers with a net worth in the millions would make a lot of money. The film focuses on three of them – Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman) and Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio) – who initially see Gill’s purchase as “dumb money” , which they are happy to accept. Ordinary people don’t like this idea and so join Gill in his crusade and bet on GameStop, over time turning investments into profits and turning their lives upside down. Remember when everyone installed the Robinhood app on their phones?

“How much did we win today?” Caroline Gill (Shailene Woodley) asks her husband Keith, who responds with “$5 million,” followed by another $4 million. On the other hand, the shortest lose money by the billions, day after day, while Plotkin gets burned by his investment. partners for getting them into this mess. “You’ve got rich guys pissing their pants right now,” Keith’s brother Kevin (Pete Davidson) tells him, encouraging his family to buy a Ferrari with all that money. constant back and forth also showing the point of view of Wall Street, which is preparing to fight back and regain control of its financial empire. Gill is soon asked to testify before Congress in a virtual hearing, saying he did not induce anyone to buy shares to profit himself.

“A lot of people feel like the system is broken,” Gill said on the call. “The whole idea of ​​the stock market was that if you’re smart and maybe with a little luck, you can make a fortune. Certainly more. In a way, the trailer for Dumb Money implies that he was fighting back so that ordinary people could turn their lives upside down too and this was just a gateway to prove it. The film also stars Anthony Ramos (In the Heights), America Ferrera (barbie), and Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier). I should also point out that the producers seem to have recreated Keith Gill’s real-life setup pretty closely, with Dano wearing the red bandana, a tie-dye shirt with cats on it, and even the same model microphone.

Dumb Money is scheduled to hit theaters on September 22.