He built the script up as a character study of different personalities in the same brokerage firm who, over the course of one very long night, must find a strategy to avert economic disaster when their capitalization becomes unnervingly unhinged. Chandor wrote the script to be confined to on location and over the course of a brief amount of time, keeping the budget low enough with the hopes that he could convince a producer to allow him to make his directorial debut with the project. After carrying around the idea for the movie in his head for more than a year, the actual writing came quickly. “I wrote the thing in four days under tremendous duress, frankly,” he says. His goal of a small movie ended up being a boon rather than a constraint for the type of story he wanted to tell. A short shooting schedule of 17 days and the complex characters in his script attracted a stellar cast, including Oscar winners (Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons), seasoned pros (Stanley Tucci, Demi Moore, Paul Bettany, Simon Baker) and next-generation standouts (Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley). Each is at the top of their game, infusing the project with subtlety and character, while giving the actors a fantastic opportunity to tell a story almost exclusively via dialogue. In many ways, MARGIN CALL reminds one of great theater or early live television drama….the confined space, the richness of the acting, the elliptical plot and the moral ending.
The film flew under the radar until it was invited to make its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The response there was positive but not rapturous. Several financial oriented films had been box office failures in the past few years, and distributors were concerned that a film that was so invested in bad news and mathematical theorems would be a turn off at the box office. Major distribution players passed on the film, until it finally ended up with the micro distributor Roadside Attractions, a lower budget indie arm of the film’s financier Lionsgate Entertainment. It next was invited to screen in the Main Competition section of the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival, where it won even more fans. The film was finally released in the U.S. in October of this year, and has been steadily building.
The film, which was budged at just under $4 million, has so far made over $5 million in U.S. box office and is still in wide theatrical release. However, there is concern that since it is not being crowned in the awards winners circles, that interest may wane in the coming weeks as so many Oscar contenders vie for audience attention. If you have not yet seen this stirring and involving film, make sure to catch it on the big screen, or at least on VOD via your cable or satellite provider. The film’s intimate setting, razor sharp acting and fluid script can certainly be appreciated on the small screen. Whatever the final fate of MARGIN CALL (and it has deserved better), Chandor has emerged as a filmmaker to watch with definite promise, in short the real deal. Actor/producer Leonard DiCaprio was so impressed with MARGIN CALL that he hired the newbie screenwriter as part of a two picture deal with Warner Brothers. Their first project together is PORTOFINO, an international thriller being produced by DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way and which may become a potential vehicle for the Oscar nominated star. Trust me, you are going to hear a lot more about and from J. C. Chandor.