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HBO has done the impossible in producing a movie about economics that's compelling, powerful and entertaining. Really.
"Too Big to Fail," based on a nonfiction book by Andrew Ross Sorkin, takes us inside the 2008 financial crisis that nearly brought down the world economy. It's a mesmerizing, frightening look at what happened and why. But it's also much more than that.
It's a drama filled with captivating characters who are, believe it or not, bankers, economists and bureaucrats.
"There's a human story here," said Peter Gould, who adapted Sorkin's book for the screenplay. "Economic policy may not be sexy, but the fact that all of us have credit cards and bank accounts means that pretty much all of us have a stake in what was going on."
And what was going on was momentous in a way few Americans realized.
"You get to see what we were up against and how this was perhaps the most catastrophic thing that had happened in our economy since the Great Depression," Sorkin said. "And that we were really on the edge. People don't really appreciate often how close to the edge we really were."
On one level, "Too Big to Fail" serves as a primer for those who didn't understand or don't remember what happened in 2008. It's not politically partisan; an opening montage shows us how Reagan, Clinton and Bush policies helped lead to the disaster.
"We're trying to tell the story as factually, accurately and dramatically as we can," Gould said. "And making it dramatic really wasn't that much of a challenge because the events were extraordinary. Ultimately, it is a disaster movie, so you have people who are coping with this disaster under a lot of stress."
This is not dry economic policy, but instead edge-of-your-seat suspense.
"Most of the pictures I've done have been about people in difficult circumstances trying to figure out their way out — how to be the better version of themselves, if you will," said director Curtis Hanson, who won an Oscar for his "L.A. Confidential" screenplay. "And this is very much that kind of story."
"Too Big to Fail" plays out as a series of chaotic moments that blend into an amazing narrative. Secretary of the Treasury Henry "Hank" Paulson (William Hurt) is at the center of the drama — a former Wall Street insider who found himself in the impossible position of trying to prevent a worldwide calamity.
Wall Street doesn't come off looking good in "Too Big to Fail," yet its players aren't demonized. "None of these characters are black-and-white," Sorkin said. "They're all very gray."
Bad guys turn out to be good. Good guys act badly. "There are moments where you want to take them by the collar and say, 'What the heck are you doing? You're really screwing this up!' " Sorkin said. "And there are moments where you actually want to give them a pat on the back in a way that you wouldn't have ever expected. I think it's those surprises on either side that make it so fascinating."
HBO's "Too Big to Fail" gets a big thumbs-up from the author himself.
"It turned out beyond my expectations," Sorkin said. "I'm thrilled about it. I think Peter did a tremendous job in creating a script that's dramatic, but hews in truth to the book and to the story of what actually happened. You're not going to hear one complaint from me because I'm sort of over the moon."
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Cast of characters
William Hurt • Treasury Secretary Henry "Hank" Paulson
Edward Asner • Warren Buffett
Billy Crudup • Timothy Geithner, Federal Reserve Bank of New York president
Paul Giamatti • Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman
Topher Grace • Jim Wilkinson, Paulson's chief of staff
Evan Handler • Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs CEO
John Heard • Joe Gregory, Lehman Brothers COO
Dan Hedaya • Rep. Barney Frank
Peter Hermann • Christopher Cox, SEC chairman
Chance Kelly • Bart McDade, Lehman Brothers COO
Tom Mason • Bob Willumstad, AIG CEO
Ajay Mehta • Vikram Pandit, Citigroup CEO
Matthew Modine • John Thain, Merrill Lynch CEO
Cynthia Nixon • Michele Davis, assistant Treasury secretary
Michael O'Keefe • J.C. Flowers & Co. CEO
Bill Pullman • Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO
Tony Shalhoub • John Mack, Morgan Stanley CEO
Victor Slezak • Greg Curl, Bank of America director
Joey Slotnick • Dan Jester, Paulson adviser
James Woods • Dick Fuld, Lehman Brothers CEO