“Arbitrage,” Nicholas Jarecki’s feature film debut as a director, was a part of the Premieres section at Sundance 2012.Encompassing several elements, the film is a suspense thriller about love, loyalty and financial issues.
It stars Richard Gere and Brit Marling, and uses recent world-wide financial issues (arbitrage by definition means buying low and selling high, and it depends largely on the person's ability to determine the true value of any given market) as a backdrop to look into the mind of a financial tycoon when his world begins to spin out of control.
Gere’s character, magnate Robert Miller, is talented and at the pinnacle of success in American business. However, the tables are turned on the eve of his 60th birthday, when he finds himself in a desperate situation trying to sell off his trading empire to a major bank before his fraud is discovered. He soon discovers that this is not the only thing hanging in the balance, as his personal life is tested to the limits.
Gere is complemented by an equally outstanding cast including Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, (“Pulp Fiction”) Brit Marling (“Another Earth”), Nate Parker, (“The Great Debaters”), and Laetitia Casta, (“Gainsbourg- A Heroic Life”), which provides a movie full of charisma and on set chemistry.
“Arbitrage” has recently been sold to Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions for $2 million for U.S. rights.
Film Slate Magazine’s Jasmina Nevada was able to conduct a quick interview with Jarecki, Gere, and Marling at the Sundance premiere of the movie.
Film Slate Magazine: As an initial project for you, how did you come up with this particular idea that you wanted to bring to screen?
Nicholas Jarecki: I was very interested in reading about the financial crisis like everyone else in 2009. I own my own business and have a lot of knowledge about the financial market. I was reading and reading, and really started to wonder who are these guys behind this on a personal level. I started to think of this character Robert Miller, a man who lives in a big mansion in New York. He has it all... the jet the family, he is a winner... but what lies beneath when he faces circumstances that are terrible, as he has crossed the line in his business dealings and his personal life and I thought, 'If it were me.. .what would I do?’ And it went from there.
FSM: Did you have in mind from the outset that you would cast Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, and Brit Marling as part of the movie?
NJ: Absolutely, as I was writing parts directly for people and would send it to them. I sent the script to Richard and he called back in one day and we met up.
FSM: Are you pleased with the final production?
NJ: I am very pleased, as we spent a year with many people just on the production side. I hope that people enjoy the movie as much as I do. It is gripping; it has larger themes, a lot of twists and turns and lots of great performances.
FSM: What is next for you?
NJ: Well I am scripting away and working on something in a similar terrain but a bit bigger and little more romantic.
FSM: I have it on good authority from Nicolas that you read the script overnight and decided that you would take it on board straight away. What were your reasons for this?
Richard Gere: I saw it as something that was relevant and present to today's society. The characters in this story were very powerful. I wanted to bring this out. I wanted to take this character on as it is relevant to our headlines today and I hear talk about issues that are so out of touch with most of this nation. People who have been born into money, and have these expectations of who they are, and that's the universe. And of course are so out of touch with real people and the sense of responsibility.
FSM: If I were to mention 'Pretty Woman' in contrast to 'Arbitrage' what would you have to say?
RG: Well, of course the first was fictional, whereas this one is based on reality and society as it stands today, based on Nicolas Jarecki's mind, which highlighted success, money and financial crisis at all levels and the consequences of dealing with the circumstances that have arisen as a result. The character in this movie is nothing like the one in ‘Pretty Woman.’
FSM: How are you enjoying the Sundance film festival so far?
RG: It is great as it is very casual; I haven't had to dress up and can come dressed casually in jeans, etc., and the atmosphere has been great.
FSM: How did you find working with Richard Gere?
Brit Marling: Wonderful. He is an amazing human being and an amazing actor and so I feel that I learned a lot from him from the acting perspective but also a lot from him about being a human being. He is very diligent about his work and thorough and incredibly prepared.
FSM: What attracted you to this project?
BM: I loved the roles that the women played in it. I think that Nicolas wrote a script in which the daughter and the mother play really exciting roles. You don't often see a father-daughter story where the daughter is taking over the father’s empire, as normally of course it is the father-son story. It is nice to have a woman in that.
