Rogue Trader is a 1999 British biographical drama film written and directed by James Dearden, based on the 1996 autobiography Rogue Trader: How I Brought Down Barings Bank and Shook the Financial World by Nick Leeson and Edward Whitley. The film stars Ewan McGregor as Nick Leeson and Anna Friel as Lisa Leeson.
Production and Release
The film was produced by Granada Film and distributed by Pathé Distribution. It was released in the United Kingdom on 25 June 1999. The estimated budget was $12.8 million. It grossed approximately £969,565 in the UK, which was considered a box-office disappointment. In the United States, it premiered on the same day on the cable channel Cinemax.
Plot
The film recounts the true story of Nick Leeson, a derivatives trader employed by Barings Bank. After a successful posting in Jakarta, Leeson is sent to Singapore as General Manager of the Trading Floor on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX). He begins making unauthorised speculative trades and hides mounting losses in a secret error account numbered 88888. Following the Kobe earthquake in January 1995, the market moves against his positions, and his losses eventually exceed £800 million. Leeson and his wife flee Singapore but he is arrested in Frankfurt, extradited to Singapore, and sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
Cast
- Ewan McGregor as Nick Leeson
- Anna Friel as Lisa Leeson
- Pip Torrens as Simon Jones
- Tom Wu as George Seow
- Tim McInnerny as Tony Hawes
- Nigel Lindsay as Ron Baker
- John Standing as Peter Baring
- Lee Ross as Danny Argyropoulos
- Yves Beneyton as Pierre Beaumarchais
- Betsy Brantley as Brenda Granger
- Caroline Langrishe as Ash Lewis
- Irene Ng as Bonnie Lee
Critical Reception
The film received predominantly negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 33% approval rating based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The critical consensus states: "Rogue Trader tells its headline-grabbing true story too late to really have much of an impact – and too clumsily to take advantage of Ewan McGregor's game performance." Critics noted that the film failed to generate dramatic tension from the financial details and that McGregor was miscast as too likable for the role.
Notable Anachronism
During a bar scene, the Blur song "Song 2" is heard playing, despite the song not being released until three years after the period in which the scene is set.
