International director Craig Gillespie is all set to release his new film Dumb Money in India this weekend. The film, distributed by Sony Pictures India in the country, stars a stellar cast — Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, and Seth Rogen. The film is based on The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich and revolves around the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021. Ahead of the film’s release, Gillespie sat down for a candid chat with News18 Showsha and opened up about not only Dumb Money but also the time he visited India.
For the unversed, Gillespie travelled through India to shoot his film Million Dollar Arm, which was released in 2014. Speaking about his visit, Gillespie expressed his love for the country and the local crew members he worked with. “I have shot in India, I loved it. I did Million Dollar Arm there. I was there for three to four months and we shot all over. It was an absolute joy,” the filmmaker shared.
Sharing his fond memories of filming in India, Gillespie said, “(My fond memories were) shooting in the villages outside Mumbai and outside of where the Taj Mahal is (Agra). Lucknow is amazing. We got to shoot in Jaipur. We got to shoot in some beautiful areas and just working with the Indian crew, I just absolutely loved.”
Turning his attention towards Dumb Money, Gillespie revealed that he shot the film in just 31 days. Given the massive star cast and the limited time, Gillespie confessed the tight schedule came with its own challenges. One of the biggest challenge was scheduling.
“We had this enourmous cast which we are so lucky to have but they are all incredibly busy on multiple things. So trying to find the days to be able to put all that together and hope that we didn’t run over (schedule), there isn’t a COVID issue and then their schedules would change ultimately while we are shooting. Suddenly, there might be some press committments for Paul because it was the awards season for The Fabelmans, Pete was doing a TV show at the same time. So we were constantly on our toes with the schedule,” he said.
Gillespie added that he got almost all the actors he wanted to work with in the first go. “In this particular case, I nearly got all my first choices. There are some people I have relationships with. I had not known Paul before this. I always loved his work. When we sent him the script, we met immediately and he signed on, and that was amazing. He sets the tone of the movie. (As for) Seth, I worked with him in the past so I called and asked and he was excited to do it,” he said, adding that it was the similar case with Sebastian and Nick.
“Pete Davidson and I have been trying to figure out something together. We’ve been attached to projects so again, I called and asked him. The one that was a nice surprise was America Ferrera, who I had never crossed paths with but really loved her work over the years. She’s such a beautiful balance of humour and drama in her work, and it was really necessary for this so I was thrilled to have her jump on,” the filmmaker added.
Weeks before the international release, Dumb Money was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. However, the cast couldn’t attend the premiere due to the ongoing 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Speaking about the cast’s absence and the strike, Gillespie said, “It is a very hard time and there are a lot of people that are struggling enourmously with what is going on. It is hard to not take this time out (to speak with the media) without our actors. We won’t be able to celebrate and enjoy it but I also understand exactly why they are not there and it is important in that sense of sending out a message and there is this interesting parallel here with our film.”
“Dumb Money at its centre is about the disparity of wealth in the country and the frustration and anger about that and wanting to have some sort of accountability. So in that way, it is incredibly timely for what is going on,” Gillespie concluded.
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