Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan and Pete Davidson will lead the cast of “Dumb Money,” an upcoming film about last year’s GameStop stock market explosion.
Based on the nonfiction book “The Antisocial Network” by Ben Mezrich, “Dumb Money” is directed by Craig Gillespie, from a script penned by Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum. Gillespie previously collaborated with Stan on his 2017 film “I, Tonya” and directed him and Rogen in several episodes of this year’s Hulu limited series “Pam & Tommy.” Gillespie produces with Teddy Schwarzman and Ryder Picture Company.
“Dumb Money” focuses on the January 2021 “short squeeze” movement around GameStop, where users of the Reddit page “Wall Street Bets” banded together to artificially increase the stock values of video game retail chain GameStop, which suffered from lagging stock prices for years. The situation resulted in major hedge funds as well as independent short sellers taking significant financial losses, and it caused calls for more regulation of the stock market. Filming for the project, which focuses on the Reddit users behind the short squeeze, is set to begin this September.
Black Bear Pictures will fully finance the film, with Black Bear International handling the foreign distributions rights. Sales for the feature will be launched at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival this September. UTA Independent Film Group will represent the U.S. rights to the feature.
Dano will next be seen in Steven Spielberg’s coming-of-age drama “The Fabelmans” in November, and most recently played the Riddler in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman.” Next year will see him star in the sci-fi drama “Spaceman,” opposite Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan.
Rogen will co-star with Dano in “The Fablemans,” playing Benny, a character inspired by Spielberg’s uncle. He will also voice video-game character Donkey Kong in Illumination’s “Mario” film next year, and will star with Rose Byrne in the Apple TV+ comedy series “Platonic.”
Stan is currently filming “A Different Man,” about a man who undergoes facial reconstruction surgery, for A24. The actor, best known for playing Bucky Barnes in Marvel Cinematic Universe films, also starred in the horror comedy “Fresh” earlier this year.
Davidson, who recently exited “Saturday Night Live” after eight seasons, starred in the A24 slasher film “Bodies Bodies Bodies” this summer, and will appear with Kaley Cuoco in the romantic comedy “Meet Cute” this fall. He is currently filming the Peacock comedy series “Bupkis,” starring alongside Joe Pesci and Edie Falco.
Dano is repped by WME and Anonymous Content. Rogen by UTA and Principal Entertainment LA. Stan by CAA and Brookside Artist Management. Gillespie is represented by UTA and Rumble Media. Davidson, Angelo, Blum and Mezrich are repped by CAA. Ryder Picture Company is repped by UTA.