Paramount Pictures has a surprise fall gift for us: The Big Short! The studio today released the first trailer for Step Brothers and Anchorman director Adam McKay’s first foray into drama, launching the film into the awards season race as a bit of a surprise entry. Based on the book of the same name by Moneyball author Michael Lewis, the film follows four outsiders who saw the impending global economy collapse in 2008 and tracks them as the housing market is about to crash. While McKay isn’t exactly known for big dramatic pictures, he’s tackled politically relevant material before with The Other Guys, and for this new film he assembled a murder’s row ensemble that includes Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt.
While I’m a little iffy on the extensive makeup and wigs, the movie actually looks quite good. Bale gets to do his chameleon thing that he hasn’t done in a while, Carell gets to stretch his dramatic talents under the direction of an old friend, and Gosling and Pitt ratchet up the film’s handsomeness by a factor of infinity.
Paramount apparently saw a rough cut of the movie recently and asked McKay if he could have the film completed in time for a 2015 release, to which he replied affirmatively. The studio is bullish enough on its awards prospects to release it during a very crowded Christmas holiday, which also includes potential contenders like Joy and The Revenant, so just when we thought the race was firming up, Paramount throws a delightful curveball. Count this among my most anticipated of the fall.
Watch the first trailer for The Big Short below, via Paramount. Scripted by McKay and Charles Randolph, the film will have its world premiere as the closing film at AFI Fest and opens in limited release on December 11th before expanding wide on December 23rd. Melissa Leo, Tracy Letts, Finn Wittrock, and Hamish Linklater also star.
Here’s the official synopsis for The Big Short:
When four outsiders saw what the big banks, media and government refused to, the global collapse of the economy, they had an idea: The Big Short. Their bold investment leads them into the dark underbelly of modern banking where they must question everyone and everything. Based on the true story and best-selling book by Michael Lewis (The Blind Side, Moneyball), and directed by Adam Mckay (Anchorman, Step Brothers) The Big Short stars Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt.
