Dumb Money Interview Special With Director Craig Gillespie

·25 min·2 clips

Ali Plumb interviews director Craig Gillespie about his new film 'Dumb Money', based on the real-life GameStop short squeeze.

This episode of Radio 1's Screen Time features host Ali Plumb interviewing director Craig Gillespie about his film 'Dumb Money'. The film is a biographical comedy-drama based on the 2021 GameStop short squeeze, where retail investors from the Reddit forum WallStreetBets rallied against hedge funds. Gillespie explains that his son was personally involved in the events, making and losing money during the volatility. The director came onto the project after another film fell through, and he quickly secured financing with actors Paul Dano and Seth Rogen attached. The film follows multiple storylines, including Keith Gill (played by Paul Dano), hedge funders like Steve Cohen, and everyday investors like a nurse played by America Ferrera. Gillespie discusses rewriting the third act to include the congressional hearings that followed the squeeze. He describes the challenge of visually representing the online world of Reddit and social media. The film was shot in New Jersey during late fall, with added snow to represent different locations. Gillespie aimed to capture the adrenaline and outrage of the events, wanting audiences to feel the frustration of a rigged system. He notes the meticulous accuracy in production, including sourcing exact replicas of Keith Gill's t-shirts and using actual text messages for dialogue. The interview touches on legal considerations and feedback from represented companies. Gillespie connects the film to broader themes of wealth disparity and collective action. The episode concludes with Plumb sharing upcoming podcast content about gaming and a film club discussion on 'Singing in the Rain'.

As heard by us

Craig Gillespie traces the urgency, inequality, and last-act rewrite behind Dumb Money.

Craig Gillespie's Dumb Money comes across as a movie built in the same rush of heat that surrounded the 2021 GameStop short squeeze. Gillespie frames the production as unusually compressed, with the project coming together in a week or two, financing, prep, and casting moving…

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Why you'd press play

You get a director's inside view of how Dumb Money moved fast from real-life GameStop frenzy to production.

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