# Too Big to Fail (film)

Too Big to Fail is a 2011 American biographical drama television film directed by Curtis Hanson and written by Peter Gould, based on Andrew Ross Sorkin's 2009 non-fiction book Too Big to Fail. The cast includes William Hurt, Edward Asner, Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti, Topher Grace, Cynthia Nixon, Bill Pullman, Tony Shalhoub, and James Woods. The film aired on HBO on May 23, 2011.
The film chronicles the 2008 financial crisis, focusing on the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank and the subsequent ripple effects on the global economy. As the firm's negotiations with potential buyers fail due to toxic assets and regulatory obstacles, the firm declares bankruptcy, triggering market chaos. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (Hurt) and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke (Giamatti) lead efforts to stabilize the system, including rescuing AIG and lobbying Congress to pass the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
It received 11 nominations at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards; Paul Giamatti's portrayal of Ben Bernanke earned him the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie at the 18th Screen Actors Guild Awards.

## Plot

In 2008, news channels are full of reports about the mortgage industry crisis and the forced sale of troubled investment bank, Bear Stearns, to commercial banking giant JPMorgan Chase, with Federal guarantees. With Bear Stearns out of the picture, short sellers turn their attention on another investment bank, Lehman Brothers.
With their share price falling rapidly, Lehman Brothers tries to negotiate a deal with Korean investors. The deal hinges on the condition that Lehman's toxic real estate is excluded, but falls through when CEO Dick Fuld insists the Koreans reconsider accepting the real estate assets. The most promising US-based buyer for Lehman, Bank of America, is uninterested without Fed involvement, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is adamant that the government will not subsidize any more acquisitions.
To resolve the situation, Paulson and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Timothy Geithner, gather the leaders of the biggest US banks over a weekend, trying to coerce them to underwrite the deal. The bank leaders seem to reach an agreement, but Bank of America backs out, choosing instead to buy another threatened firm and Lehman's rival, Merrill Lynch. Paulson tries to negotiate for Lehman with British bank Barclays, but their involvement is blocked by British banking regulators. With no buyers remaining, Lehman is forced into bankruptcy.
Lehman's collapse affects the entire financial system. Paulson tries to reassure news media of the soundness of the decision to let Lehman fail, but the stock market goes into freefall. Meanwhile, insurance firm AIG also begins to fail. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde warns Paulson that he must not allow AIG to fail, as the crisis is affecting Europe as well. Unlike Lehman, the Treasury rescues AIG with an $85 billion loan, deeming it “too big to [let] fail”.
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve System, argues that Congress must pass legislation to authorize any continued intervention by the Fed or the Treasury. With the availability of credit drying up, Paulson's plan is to buy the toxic assets from the banks to take the risk off their books and increase their cash reserves. Bernanke and Paulson lobby Congress, with Bernanke emphasizing the potential of fallout worse than the Great Depression if they fail to act. The committee of representatives appear close to agreeing, when U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate John McCain, with great fanfare, announces that he is suspending his campaign and returning to Washington to work on the legislation.
Paulson has to threaten McCain not to interfere, and beg the Democrats not to back away from the negotiations. After a wave of panic and personal haranguing from President George W. Bush, the legislation passes on a second attempt and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is created. Paulson's team realizes that buying toxic assets will take too long, leaving direct capital injections to the banks as their only option to use TARP to get credit flowing again. Along with FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, Paulson informs the banks that they will receive mandatory capital injections. The banks agree to the loans, but TARP legislation stops short of forcing them to use the money to restore credit for ordinary consumers.
The stock market continues falling until 2009 when it finally stabilizes, signaling the end of the crisis. An epilogue notes that the banks made little use of the loan money to ease credit conditions as intended, while Wall Street compensation continued to rise, reaching $135 billion by 2010.

## Cast

The cast includes the following:

## Reception
### Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 74%, based on 27 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. On Metacritic, the movie received a weighted average score of 67/100 from 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The A.V. Club gave the film a B rating.

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
| 2011 | Artios Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Television Movie/Mini Series | Alexa L. Fogel and Christine Kromer | Nominated |
| 2011 | Hollywood Post Alliance Awards | Outstanding Color Grading – Television | Kevin O'Connor | Nominated |
| 2011 | Hollywood Post Alliance Awards | Outstanding Sound – Television | Michael Kirchberger, Chris Jenkins, and Bob Beemer | Nominated |
| 2011 | Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | William Hurt | Nominated |
| 2011 | Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Paul Giamatti | Won |
| 2011 | Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Direction of a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Curtis Hanson | Nominated |
| 2011 | Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Writing of a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Peter Gould | Nominated |
| 2011 | Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Miniseries or Movie | Curtis Hanson, Paula Weinstein, Jeffrey Levine, Carol Fenelon, and Ezra Swerdlow | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | William Hurt | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Paul Giamatti | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | James Woods | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special | Curtis Hanson | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special | Peter Gould | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special | Alexa L. Fogel and Christine Kromer | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie | Kramer Morgenthau | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Main Title Design | Michael Riley, Bob Swensen, Adam Bluming, and Cory Shaw | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a Movie | Barbara Tulliver and Plummy Tucker | Nominated |
| 2011 | Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie | Jimmy Sabat, Chris Jenkins, and Bob Beemer | Nominated |
| 2011 | Satellite Awards | Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television | Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television | Nominated |
| 2011 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television | William Hurt | Nominated |
| 2011 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television | James Woods | Nominated |
| 2011 | Television Critics Association Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials | Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials | Nominated |
| 2012 | Art Directors Guild Awards | Excellence in Production Design Award – Television Movie or Mini-Series | Bob Shaw, Miguel López-Castillo, Katya Blumenberg, Larry M. Gruber, Holly Watson, Peter Hackman, and Carol Silverman | Nominated |
| 2012 | Cinema Audio Society Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Movies and Mini-Series | James Sabat, Chris Jenkins, Bob Beemer, and Chris Fogel | Won |
| 2012 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Miniseries or Television Film | Best Miniseries or Television Film | Nominated |
| 2012 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film | William Hurt | Nominated |
| 2012 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Paul Giamatti | Nominated |
| 2012 | Guild of Music Supervisors Awards | Best Music Supervision for Television Long Form and Movie | Evyen Klean | Won |
| 2012 | Producers Guild of America Awards | David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television | Carol Fenelon, Jeffrey Levine, and Paula Weinstein | Nominated |
| 2012 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries | Paul Giamatti | Won |
| 2012 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries | James Woods | Nominated |
| 2012 | Writers Guild of America Awards | Long Form – Adapted | Peter Gould; Based on the book by Andrew Ross Sorkin | Won |

## Home media

The DVD was released on June 12, 2012.