Canadian Press - November 2011

 

 

TORONTO - When the financial collapse drama "Margin Call" debuted in U.S. theatres a few weeks back there were no illusions about the film winning the box office battle.

 

Even with a stacked cast including Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Simon Baker, Demi Moore and Zachary Quinto, the indie film opened in just a few dozen theatres, versus more than 3,000 for the big studio flicks "Paranormal Activity 3" and "The Three Musketeers."

 

But Baker and his castmates still had faith that there was a movie-going public that wanted to see something weightier and of substance.

 

"We assume that people always want to go and see big action, blow-'em-up superhero movies and it's obviously (been) proven that there's a big place for those kinds of films. But I think every now and then people want to go and see a different type of film," Baker said in an interview.

 

"Obviously this film is not going to do the kind of business that 'Transformers 2' would do — not even enough to cover the catering budget for two days on that film — but people are certainly interested in seeing a film that they can talk about afterwards."

 

"Margin Call" is a fictional tale set within a 24-hour period just before the stock crash in the fall of 2008, which saw enormous financial institutions implode as plunging markets wiped out billions of dollars of investments.

 

Baker stars as young corporate executive Jared Cohen who's interrupted at the bar and dragged into an emergency late-night meeting when an analyst discovers the company is on the verge of ruin. The character is drawn to self-preservation over fiscal and legal responsibilities, which attracted Baker, who's best known as the paranormal detective on "The Mentalist."

 

"(Cohen) represents the survivalist approach to business within that world, it was a fun departure for me from the character I normally play," he said. "The film does humanize the characters involved in the crash. It doesn't necessarily create empathy for them or sympathy but what it does do is make you aware of the fact that greed is sort of human nature and it can — like anything else when overdone — undo you as a person."

 

The film was shot on a shoe-string budget by rookie director/writer J.C. Chandor and Baker said that indie approach preserved much of the subtlety in the story. A big studio "would probably just want to exploit stuff into more of a spectacle here and there, they'd probably want Demi's character and my character to have an affair ... a few more scenes of people yelling at each other," Baker said.

 

But Baker was less keen on the business decision to release "Margin Call" to theatres and video on demand channels on the same day, a new trend studios and distributors are experimenting with.

 

"When you work hard you always want people to see the work, you don't want to do it and just have it disappear," he explained. "But as a lover of films and entertainment, I like the idea of going to the theatre to see films. Video on demand is convenient but it ceases to be cinema as soon as the phone rings and you answer it.

 

"When you sit down in a cinema you surrender that period of time, they start the film when they want to start it and you go on the journey, whether you like it or not, you're forced to do it. But when it's on demand you're in control and you don't watch it with the same interest or intent."