Michael Lewis’ ‘The Big Short’ Starring Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling Trailer: Christmas Day Release [Video]

Today, Paramount Pictures released the trailer for the highly anticipated film based on Michael Lewis’ seventh bestselling book, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. The film is scheduled for release in the United States on Christmas Day.

The Big Short stars Christian Bale as Dr. Michael Burry, a U.S. physician who is diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, as reported by Vanity Fair, and who successfully anticipated the 2008 subprime mortgage collapse, which saw the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and near-bankruptcy of Bear Stearns, as well as more than 4 million Americans losing their homes, reports Global Research.

In 2012, Tom Wolfe, author of The Bonfire of the Vanities and The Right Stuff, said that The Big Short author Michael Lewis was “probably the best current writer in the country,” as reported by Vulture. Lewis’ 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game was turned into the 2011 hit film Moneyball, which starred Brad Pitt, Robin Wright, and Jonah Hill and grossed more than $75 million, reports IMDb.

Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell is often mentioned along with Lewis, for their similar, fact-driven research and writing style.

“So Mike Burry, who gets his hair cut at SuperCuts and doesn’t wear shoes, knows more than Alan Greenspan,” is what The Big Short bankers ask about Michael Burry in the film’s trailer. Christian Bale portrays Michael Burry, an odd, unkempt physician and armchair financial analyst, who, despite the fact that Chair of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, the most powerful man in global economics, disagrees with him, remains steadfast in his view that subprime mortgage paper is a “time bomb.”

“Fraud has never, ever worked. Eventually things go south,” The Big Short depicts Steve Eisman, played by Steve Carell, as asking, while Led Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks” plays in the background. An image of a check for $47 million flashes between scenes.

The Big Short is a story about greed, excess, and how intelligent people, such as Michael Burry, can spot deception in the market and use it, legally, to their advantage. Burry is reported by Vanity Fair to have earned $100 million from the subprime collapse.

The Big Short is directed by Adam McKay and its Lewis-inspired screenplay was written by McKay and Charles Randolph. McKay is known for his work with the Anchorman series and Ant-Man; The Big Short is shaping up to be one of McKay’s biggest films yet.

The list of big-name actors appearing in The Big Short is seemingly endless: Brad Pitt joins Bale and Carell along with Marissa Tomei, Karen Gillan, Ryan Gosling, Selena Gomez, Melissa Leo and many others, according to IMDb. The Big Short is set to be one of the most talked about films of 2015.

For many Americans, The Big Short provides a glimpse inside financial markets from a viewpoint seldom seen by outsiders. It has the potential to provide greater insight into how the 2008 financial collapse transpired, and how investors and consumers alike might avoid being on the wrong side of such moves, should they occur again in the future.

[Screenshot Courtesy Paramount Pictures / YouTube]