It looks like we have a lot to choose from when it comes to films about the WallStreetBets / GameStop saga: Deadline is reporting that MGM and Netflix have plans to make one, even before the dust settles (via Kotaku and Polygon) If you weren’t paying attention to the stock peaks, small squeezes and diamond hands that were going on last week, we have an explainer that should bring you up to date with the big picture.
The MGM film version is based on a book that has not yet been written. The author of this book is Ben Mezrich, who wrote Accidental billionaires, which was the basis for David Fincher’s 2010 film The social network. Mezrich was apparently inspired by the title of Fincher, as he is calling his new book The anti-social network.
Netflix is trying to get Mark Boal, the screenwriter and producer The Hurt Locker and Detroit, to write your adaptation. (Does that mean we could see Kathryn Bigelow driving? Please say yes.) The company is also planning to have For all the boys I’ve loved before star Noah Centineo plays an important role. Who he will represent is anyone’s guess, because the story literally has not yet unfolded in real life.
I can imagine that it is difficult to be a film producer in charge of turning the history of WallStreetBets into a film, because on the one hand you want to finish as quickly as possible so that the film is still current, but on the other hand you have to wait until the story is done before you actually start working on it. Even now, we are seeing new developments as WallStreetBets begins to target SPACs (front companies designed to help private companies go public) and silver commodities. It would be a tragedy if a film did not include a scene from a Redditor having to receive 300 silver bars.
There is also the question of how big the role of the trading platform Robinhood will play in the films. The platform created a storm of controversy and user anger when it stopped buying WallStreetBets’ favorite stock last week, but Forbes reports that the app is still getting a million downloads a day. It’s something that would be difficult to put in a film, but it is obviously a big part of the story.
Neither film has a release date yet (again, because it’s hard to say when this is all going to end), or a lot of talent attached to talking, but I’m excited to see how they will end. Hopefully, one of those adaptations could be like The Big Short, starring Michael Cera as u / DeepFuckingValue and, if I’m really dreaming here, maybe both will be released in the same week, as the competing documentaries of the Netflix Fyre Festival and Hulu. This strangeness would only be appropriate for the absolute roller coaster that the GameStop ride was, and probably will continue to be.