FILM 1873: THE WIZARD OF LIES

FILM 1873: THE WIZARD OF LIES

TRIVIA: In order to prepare for her role, Michelle Pfeiffer spent some time with the real Ruth Madoff.

This is one of two films focusing on Bernie Madoff. The other is Madoff (2016). Both films are television productions.

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Diana Henriques was the first to interview Bernie Madoff on August 24, 2010, after his incarceration on June 29, 2009. She plays herself in various scenes throughout this movie interviewing Madoff (Robert De Niro), and has said that the resemblance was so uncanny, she got goosebumps just sitting opposite him.

-The film's premiere drew 1.5 million viewers, making it HBO's largest premiere viewership for an HBO film in four years; additional replays and viewings through the network's streaming service brought the film's total viewers to 2.4 million for its premiere weekend.

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FILM 1464: THE BIG SHORT

TRIVIA: After meeting with Dr. Michael Burry, the character he would play in the movie, Christian Bale asked to have Burry's cargo shorts and T-shirt, which he then wore in the movie. Bale later said he hoped Burry would make it to the L.A. premiere, "because I really want to sit next to him and see if he's going to punch me in the fucking face."

Author Michael Lewis revealed in an interview that Paramount, the studio distributing the film, allowed director and screen writer Adam McKay to make this film only if he agreed to make a sequel to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004).

The quotation that appears on screen, "'Truth is like poetry. And most people fucking hate poetry.' -Overheard at a Washington, D.C. bar" was in fact written by director and co-writer Adam McKay after unsuccessfully searching for the perfect quotation to use for that segment of the film.

Co-writer and director Adam McKay said the studio was worried that the "heroes" of Michael Lewis's book were flawed: "The studio was like, 'Shouldn't they be more likable?' It's like, 'No, heroes are dirty. Martin Luther King had affairs. Gandhi was a bit of a horndog. We're all dicks. Let them be dicks.' "

The cast includes three Oscar winners (Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, and Marisa Tomei), and three Oscar nominees (Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt). Pitt has an Oscar as a producer, but not as an actor.