On Oct. 19, 1987, the U.S. market was roiled by its largest one-day percentage drop in history, 22.6 percent, and took two years to recover. The crash started in Hong Kong, where stocks fell by 11 percent in one day. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 fell by nearly 11 percent, then 12 percent the following day. It was twice the size of any daily fall during the 1929 market crash and far outstripped declines experienced during the 2008 global financial crisis.
For many of us, Black Monday will be singed in our minds, a day driven by panic across the world’s stock exchanges. Now, Showtime Friday is bringing it to the silver screen, with its new show, aptly named Black Monday. The show, starring Don Cheadle, takes us back to the worst day in history; ironically, it’s a comedy.
“It’s the fictional story of how a group of outsiders took on the blue-blood, old-boys club of Wall Street and ended up crashing the world’s largest financial system, a Lamborghini limousine and the glass ceiling,” Showtime said in a press release.
The network recently released the first trailer.
Cheadle plays a fast-talking, cocaine-toting stockbroker who declares in the trailer, “I am Black Moses and I'm gonna put the ‘brother’ in Lehman Brothers,” writes Rolling Stone.
It also stars Andrew Rannells, Regina Hall and Paul Scheer. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are executive producers and directed the pilot.
The show premieres Sunday, Jan. 20.