Rewatchables Reference

• Eric Dale gets laid off, Bettany says goodbye with the shoulder slap, gives him the zip drive – 'Be careful, I was in the middle of a lot of shit right here.'
• Bettany on the balcony explaining how he spent his $2.5 million – Bill's pick.
• Bettany explaining the model to Spacey after Quinto and Badgley summon him, and Spacey slowly realizing what it means.
• The first Jeremy Irons conference room scene – 'biggest bag of odorous excrement' and the 'I'm here to guess what the music might do' speech.
• Irons vs. Spacey Part 2 – 'If you're the first out the door, that's not called panicking.'
• Spacey tries to quit, and Irons delivers the long speech about how people want to live beyond their means.
• Koppelman: The Tucci/Bettany stoop scene – 'Come back, take the money. You'll be home by 5:00.'
• Russillo: Will selling off positions over the course of the trading day – '$0.65 / that's a $131 million loss / do it.'

• The cast – everyone throws 98 miles an hour, no weak performances.
• Demi Moore coming out of the bullpen as a former A-lister in a supporting role.
• The 'speak to me as you might a young child or a golden retriever' line as a classic powerful-person trick.
• The Irons speech listing financial cycles through history – the cyclical nature of financial crises.
• A movie taking place in one night as a metaphor – huge decisions being made while most people sleep.
• Penn Badgley becoming a massive star from You.
• Zachary Quinto putting himself in a different place career-wise with this film.

• Koppelman: Spacey digging the grave at the end, illuminated only by car headlights.
• Bill: Demi Moore staring out the window of a tall building in New York City during a crisis.

No weak link found – Bill says this is rare; all actors crush it.

• Kevin Spacey's personal baggage makes the first 10 minutes uncomfortable, though he's incredible in the role.
• The Big Short (2015) hurt this movie's profile – it swallowed up the oxygen around the financial crisis movie genre, making 'Margin Call' more of a cult film.

• Bill: 'I just like this movie more than The Big Short. I don't care.'
• Koppelman: 'This is one of the 10 best movies of the last 15 years.'
• Russillo: If this comes out in 2022, Demi Moore is Jeremy Irons, not the scapegoat.

• The Jeremy Irons role was originally offered to Sir Ben Kingsley.
• Tim Robbins was also considered.
• Billy Crudup had to refuse due to other obligations.
• Carla Gugino was supposed to play the Demi Moore character but had another project that ran long.
• Demi Moore stepped in late as a replacement.
• Grace Gummer (Meryl Streep's daughter) had a scene as Quinto's ex-girlfriend that was cut.

No overacting found – all three hosts agree performances are understated and earned given the stakes.

• Aasif Mandvi as Ramesh – 'I've seen this guy all over the place. I never knew his name until I looked it up.'
• Paul Bettany gets the Dion Waiters Award – even though he's in a lot of the movie, there's a scene-stealer quality to him.

• Tom Hanks in the Kevin Spacey role – discussed at length; Russillo thinks Hanks would have been better.
• Russell Crowe in the Spacey role (Insider-era Crowe), put on 30 lbs.
• James Gandolfini in the Spacey role – Koppelman says he would have been incredible.
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in the Spacey role.

• Shot in 17 days on a $3.5 million budget.
• More than 80% shot on the 42nd floor of 1 Penn Plaza, vacated by a trading firm.
• Jeremy Irons work visa situation required two US Senators over 4th of July weekend.
• Eric Dale made a math error in his bridge speech: said 559,020 days instead of 5,090,200.

• Zachary Quinto: Yes – he produced and starred alongside great actors, moving to another level.
• Paul Bettany: Koppelman thinks yes; Bill counters that the Avengers franchise might be his apex.
• JC Chandor: Consensus answer – became an A-list director from one 17-day shoot.
• 'Wall Street' movies: Probably not.

• The cancer-stricken dog and the shovel/digging at the end – 'It's a little much, styled up by about 27% on the symbolism.'
• Simon Baker's character is named Jared Cohen – 'You totally don't look like the name of your character.'
• Hard to believe nobody at this firm had any idea they were over-leveraged like this.
• Russillo: Would you still be able to sell at $0.65 on the dollar at 3:59 PM after calling the entire town all day?

• Bill considered a 24-style 13-episode show covering 13 hours of the margin call.
• Koppelman: The show should be set a year later – how John Tuld rebuilt relationships and the firm went from $50/share back to $450.

JC Chandor for writing/directing.

• What to do with Kevin Spacey's IMDb and his movies given his personal issues.
• How long does Sam actually stay at the firm? Koppelman thinks 10 years. Bill says at least 5.

• Koppelman: Wolf of Wall Street or Sweet Smell of Success.
• Russillo: Bright Lights, Big City.
• Bill: 'Wall Street'.

Koppelman: Bettany's Aston Martin.

• Koppelman: Talk to your kids.
• Bill: Maybe do math a little bit better.

• JC Chandor – consensus pick; pulled off a sleek movie with no money and no time, launching his career.
• Runner-up: Jeremy Irons.

• Craig Horlbeck had never even heard of the movie before.
• Thought it was fantastic; said it was 'indistinguishable from a TV show in 2022' – compared it to Industry and Succession.