Rogue Trader (1999)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

James Dearden

Writers:

James Dearden (writer)
Nick Leeson (autobiography)

Release Date:

25 June 1999 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | History | Thriller

Tagline:

He'll risk everything to beat the system!

Plot:

One man's ambition causes one of the greatest financial disasters in history.

Plot Keywords:

Bank | Money | Options | Financial Disaster | Profit

Cast

Ewan McGregor	...	Nick Leeson
Anna Friel	...	Lisa Leeson
Yves Beneyton	...	Pierre Beaumarchais
Betsy Brantley	...	Brenda Granger
Caroline Langrishe	...	Ash Lewis
Nigel Lindsay	...	Ron Baker
Tim McInnerny	...	Tony Hawes
Irene Ng	...	Bonnie Lee
Lee Ross	...	Danny Argyropoulos
Simon Shepherd	...	Peter Norris
John Standing	...	Peter Baring
Pip Torrens	...	Simon Jones
Tom Wu	...	George Seow
Daniel York	...	Henry Tan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Danny Argyropoulos	...	Trader #1
Guy Boardman	...	Trader #4
Cecil Chang	...	Old Custodian
Gerald Chew	...	Doctor
Joanna David	...	Mrs. Peter Baring
Alexis Denisof	...	Fernando Gueller
Sharon Duce	...	Patsy Sims
David Fahm	...	Boyfriend in Pub
Michael Garner	...	Alec Sims
Mark Heenehan	...	CNN Reporter
Ivan Heng	...	Singapore Bartender
Gaurav Kripalani	...	Aloysius
Michelle Lee	...	Susi
Peter Sakon Lee	...	Trader #2
Rob Lemming	...	Trader #3 (as Rob 'Ches' Lemming)
Jennifer Lim	...	Kim Wong
Karen Lim	...	Singapore Letting Agent
Kay Siu Lim	...	Policeman (as Lim Kay Siu)
Lorna Pegler	...	Girlfriend in Pub
Peter Quince	...	Nick's Father
Cristian Solimeno	...	Steve (as Christian Solimeno)
Douglas Stark	...	Vicar
Selena Tan	...	Wei Wei
Richard Wood	...	German Policeman

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:S | Malaysia:U | Iceland:L | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Australia:M | France:U | Germany:6 (w) | Portugal:M/12 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

College Of Arms - Queen Victoria Street, Blackfriars, London, England, UK

Company:

Granada Film Productions

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Nick faxes the forged documents to the auditor, the header on the fax is dated February 5, 1995. A few days later, a devastating earthquake rocks Kobe, Japan. The Kobe earthquake actually happened a few weeks earlier, on 17 January 1995.

Quotes:

Nick Leeson: I, Nicholas Leeson, have just lost 50 million quid, in one day!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "De wereld draait door: (#4.51)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Knight on the Town

Pulling non-existent rabbits out of imaginary hats

A cunning scoundrel in exotic Singapore single-handedly brings down Barings Bank, established two centuries ago and one of England's foremost financial institutions. Another wildly improbable sting flick? Not at all - the story is based on actual events and the film sticks pretty close to the facts. Nick Leeson, brilliant and ambitious young trader, superstar of the Singapore stock market, incurs staggering losses. Unwilling to jeopardize his prospects for advancement, he tries to cover his tracks by pulling non-existent rabbits out of imaginary hats. The literally gut-wrenching stress of this Sisyphusian endeavor is illustrated by Leeson's frequent bouts of vomiting (while in prison, he underwent surgery to remove a tumor along with part of his colon and large intestine, and chemotherapy after being released). The film's flaw is that it glosses over the bank's role in the disaster. Barings turned a neophyte loose in an foreign arena with total control of the operation and minimal supervision. Putting the same individual in charge of both the front office and back office bypasses the appropriate checks and balances, and is tantamount to having the fox guard the hen-house. The official report of the Bank of England concluded that Barings' failure to segregate Leeson's duties was "reprehensible," and those with "direct executive responsibility for establishing effective controls must bear much of the blame." Yet little mention is made of this in the film. And the mechanizations of the stock market are downright incomprehensible at times. Nevertheless, this is an interesting story and Ewan McGregor turns in another outstanding performance.