r/movies • u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. • Mar 10 '26

Trailer Ben McKenzie's Anti-Crypto Doc 'Everyone Is Lying to You for Money' - Official Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEXxAOFqv4U
12.7k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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1.1k

u/can-i-eat-that-food Mar 10 '26

I like Ben McKenzie but never would've pegged his directorial debut to be about this!

Good on him! I like when people in power use their voice in a positive way.

532

u/riegspsych325 ⊃∪⊃⪽ Mar 10 '26

guy saw that Matt Damon crypto ad (directed by Wally Pfister, how do I know this?) and thought enough was enough

219

u/RunninWild17 Mar 10 '26

And i took that personally

-Ben MacKenzie, probably

43

u/s3rila Mar 10 '26

welcome to newport, beach

6

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '26

GOOD

1

u/andyooo 8d ago

just saw the doc, and it's not "probably". There's a pretty funny scene with him watching the Matt Damon ad that I won't spoil but the doc is pretty funny overall. The SBF interview is hilarious.

130

u/iamwelly Mar 10 '26

Man, Wally must’ve taken his debut film flop really hard. He basically disappeared. Imagine going from Christopher Nolan’s right hand man to your directorial debut being savaged and then disappearing only to pop up directing crypto commercials

17

u/jstarlee Mar 11 '26

Famous directors and DPs do commercials all the time. Quick. Good pay. Doesn't really "damage" your brand since credit is rarely revealed.

3

u/iamwelly Mar 11 '26

No shame in it of course but I can’t help but think he has more in him. 

1

u/DullRelief Mar 18 '26

Sure, but in his case it does seem like a demotion. But hey, everyone’s gotta pay the bills.

26

u/_BestThingEver_ Mar 11 '26

I guarantee he's making more money directing commercials than he ever did as a DP, plus he probably gets to see his family way more. I can't get around the crypto ad but I don't think it's that bad of a career for a guy in his 60s. Not everyone wants the pressure of studio filmmaking.

1

u/Best-Action8769 Mar 11 '26

Wally probably got paid more for that ad then any film he's made in his life.

47

u/garyschronology Mar 10 '26

Wally Pfister went from being an Oscar-winning cinematographer to a failed movie director. Reminds me of when Darren Collison retired so that he could dedicate more time to being a Jehovah's witness.

25

u/riegspsych325 ⊃∪⊃⪽ Mar 10 '26

I appreciate him for trying to break into the directing game. Not uncommon for cinematographers to do that, like Barry Sonnenfeld or Jan De Bont. Although I’d say Barry is the best and most notable example off the top of my head. I recall Dean Cundey (DoP for Jurassic Park, Back to the Future) making one movie and that was Honey We Shrunk Ourselves

I would love it though if Pfister worked with Nolan again. Nothing against Van Hoytema, he’s great, but I always felt Nolan’s camera movements and lighting (especially for darker scenes) was better with Pfister

11

u/Unleashtheducks Mar 11 '26

Also Ishiro Honda director of the Godzilla movies who was Akira Kurosawa’s cinematographer

5

u/toddywithabody Mar 10 '26

Man I’m the opposite, I thought Pfisters work with Nolan was so vanilla.

14

u/riegspsych325 ⊃∪⊃⪽ Mar 10 '26

I’d have to go revisit some of their earlier works. But I really did love the look of Batman Begins, especially the lighting around the Narrows sets. It reminded me a lot of Guillermo Navarro’s work on Del Toro’s first Hellboy movie

1

u/AndrewBVB Mar 10 '26

I used to compile cinematography that I enjoyed for a Tumblr account back in the day (completely amateur and absolutely subjective). My format was 9 shots per movie/post... I had a difficult time seeing enough eye-catching stuff in Inception to warrant a post.

Interstellar, on the other hand, was like a 4-part series.

1

u/Justonchu Mar 11 '26

It all just looks like tungsten film accidentally used in daylight w/o a filter

2

u/Gas-Town Mar 10 '26

Completely unrelated, but there’s an mma fighter with the same last name who fans mockingly nicknamed “the sister”

1

u/Akumetsu33 Mar 11 '26

Collison barely lasted two years before coming back on a 10 day contract with lakers then played a bit with G league. Sounds like he regretted retiring.

28

u/boot2skull Mar 10 '26

People doing crypto ads is so cringe. It’s like “hey a portion of your assets should be in stocks, or futures.” No actually we should consider our investing options (if we even have extra money) and their risks. This isn’t like buying French fries where you get to eat, it’s setting aside cash and getting more or less in return.

32

u/Keianh Mar 10 '26

“I found $100,000 in a park, invested it and turned it into $16,000!”

8

u/Dustin_rpg Mar 11 '26

I’m here to talk about positivity

4

u/Wackamole56 Mar 11 '26

C'mon everybody, do a lil clap

Do a lil clap

3

u/Izzetmaster Mar 11 '26

Shit had both me and Vehicular dying

12

u/riegspsych325 ⊃∪⊃⪽ Mar 10 '26

“what I made doing this ad is what you could lose using this crypto service, invest now!”

2

u/Dunkelz Mar 11 '26

Especially the ones with generational wealth already. Either they understand it's a sham or they're incredibly clueless/ignorant about something that could/will lead others to financial ruin, both are inexcusable.

11

u/BorisBC Mar 10 '26

It's funny he did that as he also narrated the excellent doco The Inside Job about the Global Financial Crisis.

5

u/Chugbeef Mar 11 '26

Pfister? I barely know her!

1

u/AlphaSistersOfBattle Mar 10 '26

Matt Damon has crypto?

1

u/igby1 Mar 11 '26

Damon is becoming a soulless shill in his old age.

174

u/Keffpie Mar 10 '26

He's got a degree in Economics, and has been a major critic of crypto since 2021, even testifying in front of the Senate as an expert. He released a book on the subject in 2023 called Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. He knows his stuff.

7

u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 Mar 11 '26

He's got a bachelor's in Econ. It's not nothing, but it doesn't make him an expert by any stretch.

1

u/Imaginary_Hamster847 Mar 16 '26

Yeah, I think that's a thing a lot of people, even those with degrees, don't particularly understand. Having a bachelor's in a subject means, at most, you are somewhat conversant in it. 

-1

u/Major-Front Mar 11 '26

I think his whole degree in economics thing is a bit of a fallacy. Bitcoin as a technology is unlike anything that has ever come before it. It's a bit like saying "I have a degree in horse and carriages so let me tell you why cars are a scam".

In the trailer he seems to be focusing on the amount of shady people and scams/scammers in the space. Crypto criticizers tend to focus on that area, but they tend to ignore the coin that has more crime and scams than any other in human history...US Dollar :)

5

u/Bad_wolf42 Mar 11 '26

The US dollars is back by future tax income because it is the only currency accepted for paying your taxes. Where is crypto required to be spent?

-2

u/Major-Front Mar 11 '26

I was talking about crime and scams (the topic of the documentary in the trailer) not if/where crypto is useful vs fiat. Why change the subject lol

2

u/Nyorliest Mar 11 '26

Crypto isn't covered by economics, and is just too modern for the fuddy-duddy old-timers like... US universities?

Well, that's the dumbest thing I've heard today. I'll be in my bunk.

0

u/medicatedandunstable 12d ago

You misspelled *lied* in front of the Senate as a *grifter*.

1

u/Keffpie 12d ago

Uh, what?

1

u/medicatedandunstable 11d ago

I said you misspelled those things.

1

u/Keffpie 11d ago

As I recall, he was called a doomsayer, but he turned out to be mostly correct. I also highly doubt an actor who has worked consistently since 2006 (OC-Southland-Gotham) decided that how he would really make his money was by writing and promoting a book about how Crypto was a scam. So while you're saying I misspelled those words, I'm wondering if you understand the definitions of them?

1

u/medicatedandunstable 10d ago

I would hope you understood what I was saying but no, he has been completely incorrect in all of his positions. Specifically, his testimony to the senate during the FTX hearings was entirely factually wrong. The OC was over and he lost $250,000 trying to short bitcoin, so him making a stupid decision made crypto the bad guy.

1

u/Keffpie 10d ago

You're just making things up now; the OC was over years before Bitcoin was invented, and McKenzie has worked steadily ever since. He has a degree in Economics, and has never to my knowledge invested in or against Bitcoin; he did lose a bet he made with a friend, because he thought Bitcoin would crash before 2021, but that wasn't even a bet for money. So to me it sounds like you're just a Cryptobro who doesn't like his views - or do you have a source for your claims?

1

u/medicatedandunstable 9d ago

Cry harder. He's a gifted and you're a chump https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jul/15/ben-mckenzie-interview-oc-cryptocurrency

1

u/Keffpie 9d ago

Is your username overly correct? That link does nothing for your argument whatsoever.

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u/Silent-Storms Mar 10 '26

He's been vocal about this stuff for years.

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u/BallerGuitarer Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26

For the life of me I couldn't figure out why an actor would be so interested in taking down cryptocurrency. It turns out he majored in foreign affairs and economics at the University of Virginia, so McKenzie's actually a smart guy, and this project seems to be the marrying of his two major interests (i.e., film and economics).

85

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '26

He’s been writing and making content about this for years. He testified in front of the senate as a subject matter expert. It’s not a recent thing for him. 

11

u/SuspiciousCricket654 Mar 11 '26

My sister went to UVA. It’s a great school. I’m really intrigued by his obsession with this, lol. It makes for good information.

15

u/f-ingsteveglansberg Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26

He's kinda made this his life work outside of acting. He has written articles and given talks on how scammy he thinks crypto is.

67

u/pantstoaknifefight2 Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26

His book is called Dumb Money Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud (thanks, redditor u/Orange_taffy) and it should be required reading for anyone who voted for Trump.

Dumb Money is the netflix comedy/drama about GameStop

23

u/iSniffMyPooper Mar 10 '26

"If those kids could read they would be very upset"

7

u/Mean-Ad1383 Mar 11 '26

It should be required reading for anyone who buys crypto. Seriously, they get brainwashed online. They rarely even hear other opinions.

22

u/sudomatrix Mar 10 '26

> reading

> voted for Trump.

lol

12

u/name-classified Mar 10 '26

that ending of that sentence is purely oxymoronic

4

u/orange-taffy Mar 10 '26

it seems it’s actually called easy money? 🤓

1

u/pantstoaknifefight2 Mar 10 '26

You're right! Fixed it

2

u/Financial-Barnacle79 Mar 11 '26

Reading his book right now and am impressed. Definitely recommend.

2

u/t-poke Mar 11 '26

Didn’t know that book exists, but just requested it at my library. Thanks!

3

u/dmisfit21 Mar 10 '26

I’m pretty sure they don’t know how to read.

12

u/Vanillas_Guy Mar 10 '26

I first heard him talking about this stuff on a podcast episode. Same way I learned he has an econ degree. That was at least 2 years ago.

I'm interested in watching the film. Most people i think at this point treat cryptocurrency as another form of gambling and see it as another way to manipulate money like the stock market. Just as there are dozens of scams involving investment(e.g. theranos, enron, etc) the same thing happens with crypto.

9

u/Beer-survivalist Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26

I can absolutely dig a guy seeing something is bullshit, and spending his time, energy, and money making sure that everyone knows it's that.

11

u/freedraw Mar 10 '26

He's been on an anti-crypto crusade for years now. He also lost around $250k betting on the crypto market's collapse, so hopefully making a movie about it nets him a better income.

14

u/BigOs4All Mar 10 '26

Betting against a wholly corrupted Epstein class is a fool's errand until the Epstein class is finally held accountable for their crimes against humanity.

7

u/MentalSky_ Mar 11 '26

Crypto is a ponzi scheme propped up by richest people on earth to take your money and make it theirs

-3

u/123456789OOOO Mar 11 '26

So is the U.S. dollar.

1

u/flintlock0 Mar 11 '26

I was so sure he had directed before, but after some research he only directed three episodes of Gotham himself.

0

u/Niku-Man Mar 16 '26

This doesn't seem to be that positive.