While it might not necessarily be an A-list cast, per se, nor certainly the most exciting topic on the whole planet (hey, they got it green lit, that’s all that matters), the cast for the financial crisis indie drama, “Margin Call” — there’s a sexy title — already boasts a pretty respectable cast that already includes Kevin Spacey, Carla Gugino, Stanley Tucci and Zachary Quinto.
And now two more actors have joined: “The Mentalist” TV star Simon Baker and actor turned horrible-action-her0 (with painful results) Paul Bettany. Ok, maybe in some minds (and maybe even ours) this is a glorified TV Movie cast, but hell, at least a drama of this type is being made and it’s not in 3D, etc. etc.
Helmed by first-time feature-length director/writer J.C. Chandor (the short, “Despacito” with Will Arnett), the film tracks eight people at a prominent investment bank in a tumultuous 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis.
Baker is coming off a strong turn in Michael Winterbottom’s “The Killer Inside Me” and Bettany is becoming persona non grata after piss-poor film choices like, “Legion,” “Creation” and the upcoming “Priest” which looks godawful (but hey, he’s married to Jennifer Connelly, so can laugh all his way to the bank).
Baker will essentially play the villain; a ruthless high-powered securities broker who oversees the rest of the cast according to THR. Probably won’t hit til 2011 and it might be the type of film we see first at Sundance or the SXSW film festival as its scope and commercial prospects sound a little small. Picture shoots next week in New York, presumably the shoot sched is short as Tucci has to do a small role in “Captain America” overseas in July.