Charles Randolph is the co-writer of Paramount’s new financial crisis dramedy “The Big Short”, based on Michael Lewis’ best-selling book on the 2007 big banks subprime mortgage scandal, which led to the stock market crash and the Recession/housing market collapse. Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt lead the all-star cast. I recently attended a screening of the film, where Randolph spoke about making the movie.
Randolph penned the initial draft of the film, wanting to create “a lead character arc and ensemble that are unique”. Stories and characters that weren’t in the book were created for the movie, including an entire section set in Florida, where a group of traders, suspecting something is wrong with the housing market, see, in person, just how bad it is. Randolph likes to “build characters from specific moments”, though during the process, he didn’t meet any of the real people either portrayed in the movie or those who inspired fictitious characters. He also didn’t have any actors in mind when he was writing the script. However, once “Anchorman“ and “Step Brothers“ director Adam McKay was brought-in to lighten-up the script and direct “The Big Short”, Randolph said McKay did have a “dream list”, and everyone McKay called about the project said “yes”.
When talking about Ryan Gosling, who re-teams with Carell (they worked together in 2011’s “Crazy, Stupid, Love”), Randolph genuinely admits, “I never knew he was so funny.” Brad Pitt is one of the producers of “The Big Short”, but he was actually hesitant to co-star in the film. Pitt felt the role of Ben Rickert, a longtime investment tycoon who left The Street, but returned here to help two young friends, was too similar to his “wisdom-filled” Bass in “12 Years a Slave”. But Randolph says it was the “only age-appropriate role for him” in the film. The “Love & Other Drugs” writer also admits “it makes me uncomfortable” that “The Big Short” has a male-dominant cast, but the film paints “an accurate reflection” of Lewis’ book and the make-up on the financial world at the time.
“The Big Short” was a risk for Randolph. He was challenged to craft a compelling story out of events whose outcome everyone already knows. “They’re characters that we root for, but if they’re right – and they win – then we’re all screwed.” So Randolph and McKay chose to deal with this depressing topic with humor, hoping people “laugh as much as you can along the way” before the dramatic conclusion. Fans of the book may be surpised by this approach. You’ll have to invest in a ticket yourself to decide if it was a successful gamble.
“The Big Short” opens in Limited Release on December 11th and goes nationwide on December 23rd.