Listen To Adam McKay And Paul Thomas Anderson Discuss ‘The Big Short’ For 30 Minutes
The director ofStep Brothersand the producer ofHansel & Gretel: Witch Huntersis now an Oscar nominee.AdamMcKay’s successful adaptation ofMichael Lewis' novel,The Big Short,is up for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards. After earning some long-overdue awards love, the director is still out there discussing the project, and you may now hear him talk about the film withPaul Thomas Anderson.
McKay and the director ofInherent ViceandThere Will Be Bloodgot together for a highly-entertaining 30-minute chat, which took place at a recent Director’s Guild of America screening ofThe Big Short. On TheDirector’s Cutpodcast (viaThe Film Stage), you can listen to the entire conversation:
As Anderson notes at the start, it’s impressive justhow funof a movie McKay made, despite the tragic subject matter. Tonally,The Big Shortwalked many tightropes perfectly. It’s an excellent, dense script, featuring some of McKay’s most poignant and clever writing. The whole conversation is a great breakdown of the structure and intentions of the film.
Here are some fun quotes and tidbits from McKay and Anderson’s discussion:
Here’s the official synopsis forThe Big Short:
When four outsiders saw what the big banks, media and government refused to, the global collapse of the economy, they had an idea: The Big Short. Their bold investment leads them into the dark underbelly of modern banking where they must question everyone and everything. Based on the true story and best-selling book by Michael Lewis (The Blind Side, Moneyball), and directed by Adam Mckay (Anchorman, Step Brothers) The Big Short stars Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt.
