"Dumb Money" — a movie that depicts the events surrounding the GameStop Corp GME meme stock sage — hits theaters in limited release this week, with a national expansion coming on Sept. 22.
One of the central characters portrayed in the film claims he got changes made, but screenwriters are firing back on the claims.
What Happened: Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin is portrayed in the film by Nick Offerman. The hedge fund manager was not happy with the movie originally, according to a report from the Chicago Sun Times.
According to Griffin's attorney, the movie’s screenplay had several errors and inaccuracies.
“The original script contained numerous fabrications, and Citadel felt an obligation to flag those to Sony. Thanks to our letter, Sony corrected them and the final film did not include a number of falsehoods that would have been blatantly misleading to the audience,” attorney Tom A. Clare who represents Citadel said in a statement.
While some items were corrected, it might not have been enough.
“While it’s a shame the final version still chose to sensationalize events through false implications and inaccuracies, we are glad our letter gave Sony the chance to correct some of the mistakes before the film was released," Clare continued.
The screenwriters have denied that changes were made due to a request from Griffin.
“Anyone who sees this movie will know instantly: Ken Griffin had no role in shaping this film. He doesn’t want you to see it. Which is why you should,” screenwriters Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo said in a statement.
“Dumb Money” is adapted from the book “The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees,” written by Ben Mezrich. The movie comes from Sony Group Corp SONY and stars Paul Dano as Keith Gill (aka Roaring Kitty), Pete Davidson as Gill’s brother Kevin, Seth Rogen as Gabe Plotkin of Melvin Capital.
Trailers for the movie show Griffin talking to Plotkin about borrowing money.
According to the Sun Times, Griffin may be perceived as enjoying a lifestyle of the rich with the film showing him playing tennis, swimming in his pool at night and eating alone in a giant dining room with his own waitstaff.
Related Link: Ken Griffin Cautious About Economy: 'I'm A Bit Anxious We're Sort Of In The 7th Or 8th Inning Of This Rally'
What’s Next: The movie opened in limited release this week, and loyal fans and investors have been sharing photos of themselves dressing up as Gill on Twitter.
Author Mezrich encouraged people to take part in meme stock mania, once again highlighting GameStop, AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC and BlackBerry Limited BB.
“I think we should go to AMC Theaters, and we should bring stuff from Bed Bath and Beyond and carry Blackberries,” Mezrich said.
“Dumb Money” has a 7.4 rating (out of 10) on IMDb. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has an 84% Tomatometer score and a 90% audience score. The movie has 62 reviews from critics.
A user posted about the movie having a 100% audience score in the beginning, which prompted a response from Mezrich on Twitter.
“I’m guessing Ken hasn’t voted yet,” Mezrich said.
Given this was posted by the author who knows exactly how Griffin is portrayed in the book and in the movie, Griffin’s claims that changes were made could be untrue or he wasn’t able to change everything he wanted.
"Dumb Money" also stars Shailene Woodley as Gill’s wife Caroline, Sebastian Stan as Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Vincent D’Onofrio as Steven Cohen and America Ferrera and Anthony Ramos as GameStop retail investors.
Read Next: GameStop Q2 Earnings Highlights: Revenue Beat, EPS Beat, No Conference Call
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