Margin Call (2011)

Jeremy Irons: John Tuld

Photos 

Quotes 

• John Tuld : There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat.

• John Tuld : Maybe you could tell me what is going on. And please, speak as you might to a young child. Or a golden retriever. It wasn't brains that brought me here; I assure you that.

• John Tuld : So, what you're telling me, is that the music is about to stop, and we're going to be left holding the biggest bag of odorous excrement ever assembled in the history of capitalism.

  Peter Sullivan : Sir, I not sure that I would put it that way, but let me clarify using your analogy. What this model shows is the music, so to speak, just slowing. If the music were to stop, as you put it, then this model wouldn't even be close to that scenario. It would be considerably worse.

  John Tuld : Let me tell you something, Mr. Sullivan. Do you care to know why I'm in this chair with you all? I mean, why I earn the big bucks.

  Peter Sullivan : Yes.

  John Tuld : I'm here for one reason and one reason alone. I'm here to guess what the music might do a week, a month, a year from now. That's it. Nothing more. And standing here tonight, I'm afraid that I don't hear - a - thing. Just... silence.

• John Tuld : So you think we might have put a few people out of business today. That its all for naught. You've been doing that everyday for almost forty years Sam. And if this is all for naught then so is everything out there. Its just money; its made up. Pieces of paper with pictures on it so we don't have to kill each other just to get something to eat. It's not wrong. And it's certainly no different today than its ever been. 1637, 1797, 1819, 37, 57, 84, 1901, 07, 29, 1937, 1974, 1987-Jesus, didn't that fuck up me up good-92, 97, 2000 and whatever we want to call this. It's all just the same thing over and over; we can't help ourselves. And you and I can't control it, or stop it, or even slow it. Or even ever-so-slightly alter it. We just react. And we make a lot money if we get it right. And we get left by the side of the side of the road if we get it wrong. And there have always been and there always will be the same percentage of winners and losers. Happy foxes and sad sacks. Fat cats and starving dogs in this world. Yeah, there may be more of us today than there's ever been. But the percentages-they stay exactly the same.

• Sam Rogers : The real question is: who are we selling this to?

  John Tuld : The same people we've been selling it to for the last two years, and whoelse ever would buy it.

  Sam Rogers : But John, if you do this, you will kill the market for years. It's over.

  [John nods grimly] 

  Sam Rogers : And you're selling something that you *know* has no value.

  John Tuld : We are selling to willing buyers at the current fair market price.

  [Sam lowers his gaze] 

  John Tuld : So that we may survive.

  Sam Rogers : You would never sell anything to any of those people ever again.

  John Tuld : I understand.

  Sam Rogers : Do you?

  John Tuld : Do *you*?

  John Tuld : [pounding on the desk]  This is it! I'm telling you this is it!

• John Tuld : You're one of the luckiest guys in the world, Sam. You could been digging ditches all these years.

  Sam Rogers : That's true. And if I had, at least there'd be some holes in the ground to show for it.

• Sam Rogers : You are panicking.

  John Tuld : If you're first out the door, that's not called panicking.

• John Tuld : I don't get any of this stuff.

• John Tuld : [Opening a meeting in the middle of the night]  I must apologise for dragging you all here at such an uncommon hour, but from what I've been told this matter needs to be dealt with urgently. So urgently in fact probably should've been addressed weeks ago. But that is spilt milk under the bridge.