Serious Actors Work to “Humanize” Wall Street
Actors have been researching their roles through the ages, sometimes shadowing the people they will portray or, in the case of Daniel Day Lewis, refusing to be treated for pneumonia while filming the 2002 movie “Gangs of New York." (During the early 19th century, when the film was set, no treatment was available. Duh.) The stars of “Margin Call,” -- an in-production film that centers on the perilous choices that eight traders and colleagues make within a 24-hour period during the financial crisis -- apparently feel it’s necessary to apply the same family of techniques to their upcoming roles. “I am trying to humanize bankers,” Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey tells the New York Times of his role as a veteran trader in the film. “Everyone talks about facts, figures and debt. I was more interested in what they were feeling.”
