HBO Canada, a multiplex channel of Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central (Western Canada) and Astral’s The Movie Network (Eastern Canada), offers an intimate look at the epochal Wall Street financial crisis of 2008 with the premiere of the HBO original film, Too Big to Fail. From Oscar®-winning director Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile) and based on Andrew Ross Sorkin’s bestselling book, the film explores the inner sanctum of the powerful men and women on Wall Street and in Washington who decided the fate of the world’s economy in a matter of a few weeks. Too Big to Fail premieres Monday, May 23 at 9 p.m. ET/MT, on HBO Canada, day-and-date with HBO in the U.S.
In the mid-2000s, the financial sector in the U.S. was seeing unsubstantiated growth and Wall Street was booming. By 2008, those financial institutions were at the point of collapse after years of deregulation, subprime mortgages and predatory lending, threatening a global economic meltdown unlike anything seen before. Too Big to Fail brings to life the story of Treasury Secretary Henry “Hank” Paulson (Oscar-winner William Hurt) as he works with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winner Paul Giamatti) and Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy Geithner (Billy Crudup), along with the staff at the Fed, members of Congress, and the world’s richest CEOs, to bring the U.S. and the world’s economy back from the brink of collapse.
In addition to Hurt, Giamatti and Crudup, the film stars, seven-time Emmy-winner Ed Asner, Topher Grace, Matthew Modine, two-time Emmy-winner Cynthia Nixon, Michael O’Keefe, Bill Pullman, three-time Emmy-winner Tony Shalhoub and two-time Emmy-winner James Woods. Ayad Akhtar, three-time Emmy-winner Kathy Baker, Evan Handler, John Heard, Dan Hedaya and Joey Slotnick co-star.
Curtis Hanson also serves as executive producer along with Emmy-winner Paula Weinstein and Jeffrey Levine; co-executive producer is Carol Fenelon; and Ezra Swerdlow produces. The script is by Peter Gould and based on the book by New York Times journalist Sorkin, who is also a consultant on the film. Journalists Bethany McLean (Vanity Fair) and Joe Nocera (The New York Times), co-authors of All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, are also consultants.