WEBVTT - ‘Dumb Money’ Looks at GameStop Short Squeeze 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.960 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:06.280 Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:09.319 Yeow it up, everybody, rowing kiddy here, I'm going to 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:11.760 pick a stock and talk about why I think it's interesting, 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.560 and that stock is Game Stop. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:19.760 Retail traders have hooked into the Game Stop. I think 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:21.040 they think it's a good investment. 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:23.800 It looks like there's one guy driving all the buying. 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:24.759 Who is. 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:27.520 All right? 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:31.600 Well, art imitating life once again this week, opening nationally today, 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:33.639 Dumb Money, the real life story brought to the big 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.080 screen of the working class redditors who became investors during 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.640 the pandemic making and I'm guess I'm losing some money 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:43.560 along the way as well, and perhaps even more interestingly 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:45.000 and shockingly, turning Wall. 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:45.920 Street upside down. Jess. 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.600 We were living this day to day as it played 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:50.320 out during the pandemic, especially when. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.560 You think of GME for GameStop, AMC, all these names 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.000 that come to mind, that we're just taking off in 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:57.880 the beginning of twenty one, right. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.279 Out of nowhere, and like it was like we gone 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.840 here fundamentals. Who cares out the window? 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:06.000 All right, So let's get to it. Because Aaron Ryder 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:08.240 is producer of Dumb Money. As we said, this movie 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.480 opening nationally today. He joins us on Zoom in Los Angeles, 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:13.839 aeron No Stranger to the Big Screen. 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:14.720 Among other things. 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.399 He of course did producer Christopher Nolan's Memento, so really 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:20.320 good to have him here. 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:24.679 Welcome, Welcome erin big day, big movie. 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.640 We all lived it, So we've all been talking about 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:29.680 a big time in the newsroom. Looking at your trailer, 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:32.080 there's a word in it that we sometimes say in 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:33.360 the newsroom, but it was said a lot in the 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.080 trailer because it was a crazy time. What was the 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:40.280 spark catalyst, media headline conversation that got your attention, made 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:41.880 you want to do a movie about this? 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:45.280 Well, first off, thanks for having me. Good to talk 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:50.120 to you guys. So I was in Montreal up in 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:53.960 quarantine when this was all going down in January twenty 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.400 twenty one. Back then it was before the vaccines, as 0:01:57.400 --> 0:01:59.760 you probably remember, and when you went from the United 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:01.840 States to Canada you had to do a fourteen day 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:05.760 state mandated quarantine. So I was pretty much glued to 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.639 the internet just hearing all these headlines and seeing everything 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:11.760 that was going down, and I could not escape all 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:14.359 of this news about the store that I kind of 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.120 knew about when you go to the mall and why 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.720 it's stock was going through the roof, and it was 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.120 you know, you guys were covering it. It was everywhere, 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.120 and so it was hard to ignore it. 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:27.760 So how do you take something that right? It was 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:29.239 in our face and all of us were trying to 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:30.679 make sense of it. So how do you say, Wow, 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.120 that's really interesting and it's a conversation with your buddies, 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.480 versus I want to do something more with it, so 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:36.240 take us there. 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.480 Well, I got this great phone call from a guy 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.640 named Kevin Lark, who happened to own the studio that 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:45.360 I have a deal with or how to deal with 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.440 at the time, and he basically was like, look, I 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.760 think there's a movie here. And the amazing thing about this, 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.360 you know, not just because it was in the headlines. 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:56.240 Not every headline will make a great movie, but there 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:00.639 was this great David versus Goliath theme woven throughout this. 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:02.240 And you know, it. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.760 Wasn't just me or Kevin or anyone else that thought 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:06.840 there could be a movie here. Half of Hollywood was 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.160 chasing the story, thinking that it could be a great 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:12.679 idea for film, and so it became a real race 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:14.960 to try to get the rights to a book or 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.560 a podcast to serve as the basis for that story. 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:24.160 You also, from what I understand, track down Ben Mezrich's 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.440 book Dumb Money Adventures of a Day Trader, which is 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:28.480 what the film is based on. 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:30.880 So I'm just get us there, like, how did that? 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:32.360 Did you reach out or no? 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:32.680 Ben? 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:35.320 It was kind of an amazing moment. 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:37.680 You know, I'd heard this rumor that Ben who had 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.120 written you know, he's covered so many of these things 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:42.240 in his career. He has written books on so many 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.440 great topics that've been turned into great movies, including Social Network, 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.080 And so I heard that Ben had a book proposal 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.320 and everyone was after it. So I kind of found 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.280 my way into the heart of his agent and convinced 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:56.400 him to get me a copy of the seven page 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.520 book proposal that he was currently writing on the on 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.280 the Phinalen and that we were all watching. So I 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:04.960 heard about it, and you know, and did what us 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.920 producers do. We chased material and good ideas and and 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.080 got this book proposal, and you know, it was all 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:14.360 kind of there. You could feel how you could easily 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:16.640 turn the story into a narrative for a film that 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.160 would capture an audience. So that was getting that thing 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.120 and working with Ben who could not have been a 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.000 better you know, architect of a story like this. 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:27.280 You know, thank you Wall Street. 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:29.200 Right, it just kind of continues to give and give, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.039 whether it's the Great Financial Crisis, whether it's tech bubbles, 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:34.560 whether it's the creation of some incredible companies. Like there's 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.240 just unbelievable stories. Having said that, like when you look 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.360 at something like what happened during this meme stock Eras, 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:43.320 there's a lot of stories in it. There's, you know, 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:46.440 just the trading element. There's the individuals who were involved 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:50.840 who were not the normal people Aaron that we here 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:52.839 at Bloomberg typically write about. 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:55.880 No, it was your one hundred percent right. 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.040 It was like in this moment, as we were all 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.400 trapped in our homes, maybe with a little bit more 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.680 money from the stimulus check that you got, and we 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:04.400 were glued to you know, we did not have the 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.600 connectivity to our friends or a family, we began to 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.000 form communities online and I feel like this moment was 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.240 like the moment that Wall Street was gamified and some 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.560 and in some ways democratized, where people that normally hadn't 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.360 been investing on Wall Street and paying attention to these 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:24.480 sort of things, they gathered around this movement and an 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.360 army gathered, and I feel like this was the first 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.080 time that we saw that, and Wall Street felt the 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.520 impact of that, that army that gathered. 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:35.200 How did you think about, like, what the stories you 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.400 wanted to tell specifically, right, because it's really fun to 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.080 look at the trailer and I was thinking about you know, 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:46.279 Ken Griffin and you know others that are certainly individuals 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.880 that we talk about all the time here, Steve Cohen, 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:50.640 Gabe Plotkin. 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.240 So there's you know, the establishment side of it. 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:58.040 Then there's the redditors in terms of you know, these people, 0:05:58.120 --> 0:05:58.919 their worlds. 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:00.440 Were changing dramatically just. 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.919 As you approach this project, What were the stories you 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:05.400 wanted to make sure you got out there? 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:07.839 Well, it's a great question. 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:11.320 You know, we really wanted to make this movie about 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:13.839 it for those people that were on the Reddit boards, 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.080 the people that were involved in this and got involved, 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:17.040 And you. 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.120 Know, it starts with Keith Gill Roaring Kitty. 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.880 He was in large part the face of this movement 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.920 and the person that we all kind of identified with 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.640 the game stuff phenomena, so you knew he had to 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.599 be a you know, the focal point of a lot 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.640 of the story and any very much he is. I mean, 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.320 that's where it all kind of started. So and then 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.640 it was really Ben's book and the research that he did, 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.760 and Lauren and Rebecca are two screenwriters who were able 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.080 to kind of do a bunch of research and find 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.400 these real people who went through this experience, and there's 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:53.160 so many The hard part was was kind of discerning 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.240 the people that were involved with us and finding there's 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:58.800 really great stories that had a satisfying ending to him 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:00.680 or had a little bit of tragedy to him, with 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:02.800 the things that would make a good movie. You know, 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.400 we weren't making a documentary here. What we're trying to 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.360 do is make something that's that shows this moment in 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:10.200 time that we all lived through. But it was actually 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.000 really a fun moment because we'd never seen anything like 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:13.520 this before. 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:15.200 I'm curious who you talked to? I remember talking to 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.160 Oliver Stone about Wall Street and then. 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:18.880 The sequel of like who did You talk To? 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:20.920 To get the feel in the same thing with Billions, 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:23.080 Like we've done a panel here at Bloomberg and the 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.200 guys like who did you because they really did talk to, 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:27.480 you know, folks on Wall Street really to kind of 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:28.720 get the feel and make sure. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.240 They were accurate. Who did you talk to in making this? 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.000 Well? You know, look, there's so much stuff that's out 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:35.480 there that true right now. 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:37.400 Yeah, there's so much stuff that you can learn and 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:39.960 there's so many things in the headlines because everybody was 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.040 talking about this, and when you go see the movie, 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:43.680 it's a very easy. 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:44.200 Film to understand. 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.840 You do not have to be an investor in Wall 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:49.040 Street to understand this movie, nor do you have to 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.520 be some sort of economics major to understand what was 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.040 going on here. It's a movie for the everyman, and 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.920 that's really important in the construction of it. We didn't 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.960 want to be, you know, weighing this down with your 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.240 arguing about you know, the economy or jargon about like 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:04.360 investing in that sort of thing. 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:06.600 We're trying to make it for and every man. 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.520 So we took that approach, and so in our research 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.960 it was really focusing on the everyday people and how 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.120 they look at the at investing and how they look 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.040 at the stock market and how they maybe even see 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:18.679 that the system made very well. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:19.360 Be ripped, Aaron. 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.160 I was wondering when you were, you know, certainly reading 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:23.560 the headlines like the rest of us. 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.000 Did you did you trade in any of these? 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:28.280 Did you actually participate in any of this in terms 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:30.640 of the market trade. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:32.560 It's really funny actually, because. 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.040 I had You're going to say, yes, aren't you. 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.160 Yeah, Yeah, I totally am. You know, I actually got 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.040 my Robinhood account. I wanted to understand how it worked 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:44.000 and how it operated, so I got involved with Robinhood, 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.000 and I wanted to see how people were doing it, 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.800 so I very much participated. I got involved with that, 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:50.839 and I started buy a couple of shares here and there, 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.800 just kind of see how the everyman was going about it. 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.840 And I needed to understand how the apparatus worked as well. 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.079 So yeah, I got I got deep in it, and 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.319 and I think there's no other way to read the 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:03.800 understand it unless you're doing. 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.280 Yeah, I totally agree. Did you make money in the process. 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:10.080 I can't. I don't even tell you how much money 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:10.520 I lost. 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:13.800 Well, and that's part of it. 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:17.160 What's really kind of wild, though, these individuals who started 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:19.319 to be honest with you, like I just remember on 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:20.880 a day when we'd have to like highlight a stock 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:22.760 and it obviously we're going to highlight these because they 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:25.480 were moving in such a dramatic way in a market 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:28.839 where you know, these were names and individuals who were 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:29.960 shaping the overall trade. 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:30.880 It was pretty phenomenal. 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:35.079 Aaron, don't go anywhere, because I'm curious about the actors 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.679 that were lined up and just as the movie progressed, 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.600 just what you were kind of feeling and the feedback 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:44.160 you were getting. And I'm also curious about the real 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.320 life Steve Cohen's or Gaye Plotkins or Ken Griffin, if 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.080 you've heard from any of them. So hang on, we're 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:50.320 going to come back to you in just a moment. 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.360 We're going to continue with Aaron Ryder, producer of Dumb Money, 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:55.480 on Zoom from Los Angeles. I have to say, Jess, 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.760 I haven't seen the movie yet either have I, But 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.160 but I was thinking about, like you were here right 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:03.760 with all of our Wall Street team and. 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:05.920 Reporting on things, and it was just kind of crazy. 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.079 It really was wild, and you couldn't stop following it, 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.160 and obviously as a reporter I had to, but I 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:12.960 mean I couldn't take my eyes off of it, even 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:14.480 when I was not reporting on it. 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:16.760 And then there was a reckoning because the regulators got involved. 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:18.840 So we're going to come back to Aaron Ryder in 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:20.520 just a moment, the producer of Dub Money. 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:22.960 Delight to still have with us. Aaron Ryder, producer of. 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.120 Dub Money on Zoom and Los Angeles, the movie opening 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:29.880 up nationally on this Friday, Aaron. How easy was it 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:34.080 to make this movie in terms of financially getting the funding? 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.319 Well, you know, no movie is ever easy to make. 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.680 It's a bit of a miracle when we actually pull 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.720 it off. This one, it was a little bit complicated. 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.040 We started out with it. I had to deal with 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.240 the studio MGM, and we started to make the movie 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.880 with them. But somewhere along the way about in pre production, 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:57.000 MGM had sold themselves to Amazon, and that's when things 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:00.640 got a bit more complicated. Let's say, just because you know, 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.920 you have this brand new giant entity that takes over 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.240 a movie studio and everything kind of slowed down. So 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:11.800 we were not able to move forward under that that 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.800 sort of deal that we had made. So we went 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:18.320 out and found ourselves independent financiers, and we found an 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.079 excellent partner with a company called Black Bear, and Teddy 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.120 Schwartzman came on as our partner and we made the 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.440 film together. So it started out as a studio movie, 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:30.559 ended up independent, and then we found a home with 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.199 a studio with Sony, So that's how it came together. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.240 I have to jump in because if Schwartzman sounds familiar 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.200 to our audience, which it certainly does, Steve Schwartzman, of course, 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:41.440 is his father, Steve Schwartzman. 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:42.240 I've talked to him. 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.439 He's the co founder, our founder, i should say, a Blackstone, 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:49.520 the private equity giant. So it's kind of interesting to 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.559 have that funding behind this film and a film that 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:56.360 also kind of makes a little fun of right the 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.120 hedge fund dudes, I mean they really, you know, kind 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:03.840 of really were caught off guard during this whole you 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.040 know process, if you will, of the meme stock craze. 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:08.440 A lot of them are you know, shorting some of 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.920 these names, and it really was uncomfortable for them. I'm 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:16.640 curious about how you thought about their portrayal in the movie. 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.720 Well, you know, look, these are real people. Obviously, we 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.280 did a really good job at trying to tell the 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:27.320 truth here and Our job is first and foremost to 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:31.320 make a really compelling and entertaining movie, and just so 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:33.880 happens that the subject matter made it very easy for 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.280 us to be able to do that. So you know, 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:39.960 we weren't out to try to overly uilify anybody. It 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.080 was just to tell an honest story of what happened 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:43.760 in this one particular. 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:44.080 Moment in time. 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.520 Well exactly. Talk to us too about the actors. 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:51.839 The lineup is pretty amazing, Paul, Pete Davidson, Yeah, talk 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:53.280 to us about this cast. 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:54.440 Sure, sure. 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.720 I mean, look, it all started with Paul Dano because 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.240 we you know, the face of this movement, as we 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.319 said before, is Keith Gill, and who's going to play that. 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:07.439 He's iconic now, and so Paul is somebody that both 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.120 Craig and I really had been trying to find something 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:12.760 to do with. He's just an exceptional actor and he 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.120 just embodies Keith feel to such a degree. He's got 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.720 this great sense of humor and energy to him. And 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:19.560 I think you'll see Paul in the way you've never 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:21.480 seen him before. And as far as the rest of 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.760 the cast goes, it's an embarrassment of riches to be 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.440 honest with you. We have such a great lineup, mostly 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:31.600 people that have been friends myself or Craig have worked 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.480 with in the past, you know, between Seth Rogan and 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:41.120 Nick Offerman, Pete Davidson, Shaling Woodley, it's kind of a 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:44.560 remarkable ensemble and one I'm really proud of in a 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.080 testament to the fact that I think everybody knew this 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.000 story in one way or another wanted to get involved. 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:51.080 I love that. 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:54.800 Is it a little frustrating with the Hollywood Actors strike 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.480 that this incredible line up of actors can't be out 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:00.079 there talking about the movie. 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:03.479 A little frustrating, might ont. 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.760 Sorry, Yeah, it's it is. 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:10.960 It's it's unfortunate. But we feel like this moment is 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:13.760 the moment for this movie. Given what's going on in 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.720 the country, the division we have, the fact that we 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.160 all live through this, it just feels like this is 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.040 the right kind of movement and right kind of moment 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:24.560 for a film like this, you know, And I think 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:26.840 it's reflected in the strikes that we're seeing all throughout 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.960 the country, not just in in my in my line 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:32.240 of work with the actors and the writers going a. 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:34.360 Strike, but the you know, the auto workers and everyone else. 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.640 There's a lot of disparity out there, and I feel 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.480 like this movie does a good job of of of 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.880 highlighting that. So we've felt like now's the time to 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.160 show this to the world. And yes, it's disappointing not 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:49.520 to have actors there because we went through the journey 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:51.200 with them, and it's always a lot of fun to 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.960 go out and promote a movie. But it's still it 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:56.080 seems to be generating a lot of interest. I like 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:57.600 to think that, you know, what do we need the 0:14:57.640 --> 0:14:58.080 actors for? 0:14:58.200 --> 0:14:59.640 Right out? 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.600 Your phone's ringing, Aaron, No, it's interesting. Well, the Times 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:05.520 I thought said it really well too. They said, you know, 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:09.280 your movie about a populist uprising, right, these you know, 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.400 kind of small retail investors. These guys just kind of 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.880 doing their thing on Reddit and elsewhere and really kind 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:20.000 of bringing down the establishment in terms of the trading environment. 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:21.960 And you think about these hedge fund titans, like it's 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.920 pretty remarkable. But you as you say, like, we also 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:28.640 are seeing workers really step out and speak up for 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:31.840 their own rights. In terms of Hollywood, what is it 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:33.840 that you know? I think about our audience, a smart 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:37.680 audience so needs to understand about what's really happening there 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:39.680 at those picket lines in a world where we're talking 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.600 a lot about, you know, the next level of artificial 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.000 intelligence and what kind of jobs that takes out and 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:47.160 what it means for the creative world. 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:49.840 I think it's you know, we look, we. 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.080 Reached the moment, an inflection point, if you will, And 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.640 most industries go through. The entertainment industry certainly has its 0:15:57.640 --> 0:15:59.640 moments as well. It happened back in the early sixties 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.560 when actors went on strikes about residuals and that sort 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:06.120 of thing as television became more and more prominent, And 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.200 we're in that moment right now, and it's in a 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:11.320 large part it was probably going to happen a couple 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.480 of years ago, but the pandemic disruptive things, and so 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.560 this was a moment that was bound to happen with this, 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.000 you know, the proliferation of streamers and that sort of 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:23.120 thing changing our business dramatically, which it has. 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:24.280 And so with that sort of. 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:28.000 Change comes to recalibration of how people are patent and 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:32.320 what fair wages mean, and so, you know, not just 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:35.960 in this industry, but I think in multiple industries across 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.640 this country. So we're in that moment right now and 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.240 we're all feeling and I hope it things settle sooner 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:45.680 than later and we find that common ground affairness, so 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:46.880 everybody can get back to work. 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:48.560 You just have about a minute and a half left here. 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:50.320 Is there for a favorite moment of yours in terms 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.040 of making the movie or you know the process. 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:55.720 I know it's hard for you to be. 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.200 Like, yeah, it's my favorites, my baby or my latest baby. 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.080 But is there you know, take as a little bit 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:01.880 behind the scenes. 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.840 It's two things, you know, Like it's hard, as we said, 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:08.439 it's hard making the film and pulling all these elements together, 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:10.280 and it takes a lot of energy and certainly a 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:12.840 lot of money, and you have to hope that the 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:14.320 movie gods smile upon you. 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.200 But for me, it's always two moments in any given film. 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.520 It's the moment when you pull a whole thing together 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.120 on the first day of photography, and I think about 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:24.719 it all the way to the first moment made up 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.479 until now, and when you're standing behind the director and 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:29.760 you got the whole everybody ready to go, and the 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:33.399 director kind of says action to me, It's like, I 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.879 feel like a moment of triumph in that moment, thinking Okay, 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.240 well this is happening now and this story will be indelible. 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:43.240 Those kind of moments are never lost to me. The 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:46.360 second part is when you show your film for the. 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:48.320 First time in front of a large audience, like we 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.159 had the opportunity to do in Toronto, and have an 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.199 audience received the film the way it did, with a 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.840 standing ovation the way we had, and just see how 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:59.080