After watching the first trailer for the upcoming film “Greed,” the title is clearly no misnomer. The satire is very much a look at greed and how terrible it is, through the use of a fictional retail billionaire that needs to salvage his public image by throwing a massive party. You know, because nothing says “great guy, totally not greedy” like a lavish, star-studded private party on an island in Greece.
The trailer for “Greed” does a great job showing how the film mixes the serious story and message with hilarious dialogue and situations, thanks to the incredible cast. But the trailer doesn’t tell the whole story, as the new film actually ran into an issue with being too subversive.
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According to filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, Sony Pictures, who co-financed the film, had the final say about what the film included, and while the studio was happy with 95% of the finished product, there was a tag at the end of the film that didn’t make the cut. The filmmaker intended to end “Greed” with a bunch of cards with real-life names of businesses and billionaires and how they made their money using unfair labor. According to an interview with the Guardian, Sony was worried about potentially upsetting major brands and companies that could do business with the company down the line.
Even after Winterbottom replaced the cards with more generic information, Sony wouldn’t allow it in the final cut. So, with all the satire and parody found in “Greed,” the film is still not 100% exactly what the filmmaker intended.
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The film stars Steve Coogan, David Mitchell, Isla Fisher, Shirley Henderson, Asa Butterfield, Dinita Gohil, Shanina Shaik, and Sarah Solemani. Winterbottom is the writer-director of “Greed.” He is probably best known for his previous films, “Welcome to Sarajevo,” “Wonderland,” and “24 Hour Party People.”
“Greed” is set to hit UK cinemas on February 21, 2020. A US release date has not been announced.
Here’s the synopsis:
Greed is the fictional story of a retail billionaire, set in the glamorous and celebrity-filled world of luxury fashion, which is centered around the build up to a spectacular 60th birthday party in an exclusive hotel on the Greek island of Mykonos.