"KENNY"." "We were a real business." "That's what you got to understand." "We were goddamn industry the kind that's the backbone of this country." "(indistinct chatter)" "Don't take my word for it." "Go in the parking lot and look on the license of that brand-new Mercedes 450 of yours." "Hey." "Are you seeing this?" "KENNY:" "That's Furnace Creek." "This, uh, picture's over 100 years old." "KAY:" "Hmm." "KENNY:" "And you see this handsome devil right here?" "KAY:" "Uh-huh." "KENNY:" "He's a Wells." "Okay, so, um, I know you're a mining company," "Mm-hmm." "but I pictured..." "Well, I don't know what I pictured exactly." "I guess little..." "little carts going down little..." "little train tracks." "Right." "I mean, what is it that you do here?" "Wh-what we do is we look for the metals and the minerals, all right?" "There's exploration over there, there's engineering and there's production, right?" "We're prospectors." "NOt yet?" "Okay, how about this?" "Yeah..." "Um... so let's say that this... is the Earth." "My handbag?" "Your handbag is Mother Earth with all of her deep-filled mysteries and goodies on the inside that she does not want to give up." "Me, I'm man, and I'm damn curious about what she's got inside." "So, I send down what's called an exploratory drill." "I go down inside and dig around, come across something." "I pull it out." "It's nickel." "Now, nicke 's actually 75% copper and 25% nickel, but there's a whole lot of nickel in the world, and the world needs nickels." "I'm back down there getting my second core sample, and I happen to pull up, say... silver." "Now, the thing is, when you find a little bit of this, that means there could be a whole hell of a lot of it." "So we start raising money." "We raise enough money to open a mine like the one in that picture right here." "Then"." "we dig it all up." "Now, sometimes-- not that often, but sometimes-- the prospecting gods are having a party at the Pearly Gates, and we get real, real, really lucky." "And we dig down in there, then we find a little metal called... gold." "(gasps)" "Yes." "Kenny." "You like it?" "I love you." "I love you." "(taps on glass)" "Old man wants to see you." "Afternoon, Marianne." "Hey, Pop. (knocks on door) Heard you want to see me." "Yeah, Kenny." "Get your ass in here, would you?" "Would you, uh, run through this" "Pershing County strategy again for me?" "Right, um..." "It's about this southern part of this Newmont property, right here." "Now, Newmont just started drilling 140 meters and they're finding a whole lot of magnesite." "If you remember, we still own the option on Relief Canyon, which is next door." "We're not finding squat, why?" "We're not drilling deep enough." "Let's get back in there." "Drill deeper." "Go to 140 if we need to, and we got a damn good chance of getting Relief back in production." "What about Jerritt Canyon?" "(inhales deeply) Well, that's your baby." "You know a hell of a lot more about it than I do." "But the assays look promising." "Could be fucking huge." "I want you to run point on this." "(taps table)" "All in." "Scale it up." "Make it yours." "Yes, sir." "Clive Coleman's on board." "Those boys will ride with you." "(exhales)" "God, we work hard in this business." "Sometimes for nothing." "I wake up every morning." "I tell myself," "" don't have to do this." "I get to do this."" "And then it's just blue skies." "Blue skies, baby." "KENNY"." "My old man... a legend." "That was the last time I saw him alive." "(low, indistinct conversations)" "MAN:" "A little eye-opener, Kenny?" "KENNY:" "God bless you, Roy." "(softly):" "Here we are." "Boys, to the mother lode." "ALL:" "Mother lode." "Today be the day." "KENNY"." "The geological reports on this are highly encouraging." "We are taking a very aggressive approach." "Prospectus?" "Of course." "I can have my secretary send you one right out." "KENNY:" "But I got to tell you, this offering, it's already over-subscribed." "You know, we can always try and get you in on the next one." "No, no." "Yea, I understand." "Shit." "Watching the time?" "It's 11:15, Kenny." "Oh, Christ." "Where would I be without you?" "MAN:" "Mr. Wells?" " Yes." " Lloyd Stanton." " Hello, Lloyd." "Kenny Wells." " Hi." "LLOYD:" "This is my colleague, Henry Andrews." "Pleased to meet you." "Hey." "Come on back." "Absolutely." "KENNY:" "Thank you. (clears throat)" "LLOYD:" "So, what can we do for ya?" "Well, why don't we wait for Clive?" "Oh, uh, Mr. Coleman got tied up in a meeting." "No offense, boys, but I'm supposed to be meeting with Clive." "None taken, but if you were supposed to be meeting with Clive, you would be meeting with Clive." "All right." "Here is what we have." "We are developing some very exciting properties that are spot-on for your investor profile." "Low buy-in with a sizable upside." "Mm-hmm." "And the beautiful part is they are all only 12 to 18 months and cash positive." "Manitoba?" "Yeah." "We picked up an option on a skip claim at an auction." "Right, but it's a 90-day option." "Yes, the window is narrow, but if you have a look at the geo, you'll see a very promising shale formation that hasn't been tapped yet." "LLOYD:" "Mr. Wells, Washoe has a practical value hovering just above zero." "Your debt load is untenable, and you bring us, uh, raw land with no infrastructure, no fungible assets." "(laughs):" "I mean, you can't possibly expect us to underwrite this." "Yeah." "I'm talking about a small offering here." "As I said in the beginning, a low buy-in." "Now, if you'll take a second look at the geo, you will see what I see." "And that's money." "Not our money." "(exhales heavily)" "(groaning)" "KENNY"." "See, the... the thing is that the whole economy had turned, particularly for commodities." "Close of the day," "Washoe was trading at four cents a share if it was trading at all." "Washoe Mining." "There's this great little land lease." "'Cause this is a once in a lifetime opportunity." "Right." "Washoe." "Washoe Mining." "You know, carrying the..." "carrying on the business." "You know, there's still minerals out there." "We just got to find them, right?" "Yeah, all right, all right." "Thank... thank you for your time." "Bye." "(phone beeps)" "I could... 12 to 18 months... cash positive." "Adeal..." "Goddamn, I am calling you." "Fuck whatever time it is." "Washoe Mining, the company that my grandfather literally scratched out of the side of a Nevada mountain, the company that my father made into a real player, was almost gone." "Almost." "I'd already, uh, lost my house, and I was, uh..." "I was living with Kay." "And, uh, we-we were about to lose that, too." "(exhales)" "I had a half gallon of Seagram's in me." "Shit, most people would have been dead, but not me." "No." "(chuckles)" "Instead..." "I had a dream." "I mean, I mean, I mean, literally, I..." "I had a dream." "(birds calling, animals hooting)" "Indonesia." "Gold." "Now, I'd been to Indonesia five or six years earlier." "I still had a little money in my pocket." "You know, Indonesia was booming, and I was looking for a way to get in." "Back then, if you wanted to put a hole in the ground in Indonesia, you wanted Mike Acosta telling you where to dig." "He's what they called a River Walker." "Yeah, a real hands-on geologist." "The real deal." "(Mike speaking Spanish)" "KENNY:" "Oxford College, MIT." "His mom was Venezuelan." "His dad was English." "Now, you see, he'd just discovered the largest copper strike in Southeast Asia, and everybody wanted a piece of him, including me." "MIKE:" "You got the Nazca Plate, the Pacific Plate." "Juan de Fuca, North American, South American." "Aleutian, Marianas, Tonga." "The plates rubbing and grinding up on each other." "Six trillion kilobytes of pressure." "10,000 degrees Celsius kicking up geothermic hot spots all along the Pacific rim." "KENNY"." "He called it the, uh, the Ring of Fire theory." "And he definitely had everyone's attention." "That's how I found the copper." "And that's why I'll find the gold." "(Kay groaning)" "You're up early." "H9)'" "You want to talk about yesterday." "No." "I gotta go right now, babe." "I've gotta plan." "Gotta plan." "Oh, wait, Kenny, Kenny, listen." "Hmm?" "Carl had an idea." "American Home Carl?" "Uh-huh." "He said he could, uh, get you on for a while," "if you wanted." "Right, right, right, right." "Yeah, I don't think that's going to be necessary, babe." "Yeah, but it'd just be temporary till the market turns." "We could fool around in the warehouse." "You know, I tell you... (moaning)" "When I get done with this trip, all right?" "Shouldn't take more than a week." "All right." "What?" "Where you going?" "If it doesn't work out, I'll give Carl a call." "Baby..." " I'll call you from the airport." "Wait." "Wait, wait." "Kenny!" "KENNY:" "It was like I was being called, you know?" "It was the gold calling." "That may sound crazy to you, but if you..." "if you knew that feeling," "well, you'd know." "(engine roaring)" "("Ron Klaus Wrecked His House" by Big Dipper plays)" "(horns honking)" "KENNY"." "Kenny Wells." "I'm down here in the, uh, the lobby of the, uh, Jakarta Palace." "Uh..." "Yeah, listen, we must've got the times mixed up." "Um..." "Let me know." "I'm down here." "I'm in the brown suit, I'm on the green couch." "I'm the good-looking guy, okay?" "All right." "We'll make it happen, cap'n." "All right." "MIKE:" "Wells?" "Mike." "Good to see you again." "I know a local place, a bit more color." "What, they're not pouring here?" "Good." "(snaps fingers)" "(plays gentle melody)" " So, what are we talking about here, Wells?" "Ring of Fire, Mike." "Ring of Fire." "You're playing my greatest hits." "Fire's gone out of that one." "Well, what are you talking about?" "It's the opinion of my fellow esteemed geologists, that the whole thing-- I'm quoting here-- is a crock of shit." "Well, what the hell, you know?" "You called it wrong." "What are you going to do?" "There's no right or wrong in this business." "There's only hits and misses." "There's gold here." "I'm glad you said that, Mike." "I truly am, 'cause I believe you." "I hate to dash your hopes, but don't you think others have come along before you with the same thought and, from the looks of it, deeper pockets?" "Ring of Fire is real, Mike." "I knew it the first time I heard." "It struck me like a fucking lightning bolt, and I never forgot it." "Go ahead, laugh." "I get that all the time." "But hear this." "I don't just believe." "I know." " No, you don't." " I've seen it." "You don't understand." " No one will back me." " I will." "You tell me where you want to dig, Mikey, and I'll make goddamn sure the bills are paid." "No offense, Wells, but... you look like you had to rob someone just to get here, man." "You know nothing about me." "You know it's still out there." "I know that." "I can see it in your eyes." "You still believe." "I get it, and I was born on the side of the mountain, too." "My-my father scratched everything he ever owned out of a fucking rock." "All right?" "Died with dirt under his fingernails, and I intend to do the same." "This business... wrote me off years ago." "All right, maybe you're not running the hottest in your career right now either, so let's prove them wrong." "You and me." "Let's prove them all fucking wrong." "And you know why?" "You do know why, because the Ring of Fire is right, Mike." "You called it." "You just haven't found it yet." "Tell me I'm crazy." "I'll be on the next plane." "You're crazy." "You have a hat, Wells?" "Yeah, I got a hat." "Why, we going somewhere?" "MIKE:" "Up river." "KENNY"." "What river is that, Mike?" "You're late." "MIKE:" "The only one that matters." "MIKE:" "The Dayak have been panning this river for over 5,000 years." "That's how it got its name," "Daya Kensana." "What's it mean?" ""Daya" means "upstream."" ""Kensana" means "gold."" "You got to be shitting me." "MIKE:" "Wells." "Wells." "We're here." "So, listen, the Dayak are warrior people, probably best known for ngayau, headhunﬁng." "But it doesn't happen much anymore." "They might be thinking we're some traders or someone's mother-in-law." "(birds calling, animals hooting)" "(hooting)" "KENNY:" "How long?" "MIKE (panting):" "This jungle will... will test you." "It will hold you up, weigh you, and decide your worth within an ounce." "Do you always talk like this, Mike?" "Like a book on tape?" "(grunts)" "MIKE:" "I suppose I do." "KENNY (panting):" "Where are we going?" "MIKE:" "Up." "(groaning and breathing hard)" "(birds calling, animals hooting)" "Take a look." "(panting)" "Oh, my God." "It's my dream." "MIKE:" "There have been a few folks up here tapping over the years, but have all focused on the foothills far to the south." "But what interests me is the other way." "That small depression, like a giant left a footprint walking away." "Something happened there, Wells." "Something hot and angry." "That's where we'll find the tasty bits." "My dream is out there." "MIKE:" "Damn right it is." "KENNY"." "Look, if it's the big boys that you're thinking about investing in us-- you know, the Harvard endowment or some..." "some pension fund, right?" "" "I am not your guy." "But the little guys, right, guys that you don't even know about, the, uh, the hustlers, the scrappers, the make-it-happen motherfuckers, those are my guys." "How much do we need?" "Seven." "Seven-fifty to start." "0K8)'" "How much do we need?" "It isn't just a lease." "We're in Indonesia." "That means getting a permit and lining pockets." "Equipment." "You don't just do this with a couple of shovels and a pickax." "I'll get the money." "Whatever it takes." "(bird cawing)" " What's that?" " It's a contract." "Read it." "Sign it." "Keep it." "KENNY"." "I could feel it in my bones." "I was selling something that I believed in." "20-K minimum buy-in, right, and the shares are fucking flying off the shelf." "I mean, no risk, no gain, right?" "No, 'cause it's coming in right now." "No, Acosta." "Michael Acosta." "It's the largest copper strike in history, and that's the guy that we got." "Kay, get those shoes shined for dancing, baby." "MIKE:" "We don't even have the exploration permits." "What are they selling?" "What are we selling?" "Mikey, we're selling the story." "And right now, the story is you." "Speaking of which, what the fuck are you doing right now?" "I'm down in Kupang City looking at coring equipment." "Acosta's in Kupang City looking at coring equipment." "He's in Kupang City as we speak." "It-it's a fucking..." "Kupang City." "We're getting the coring equipment..." "You're magic, Mike." "You're fucking magic." "You there, Mike?" "Two hundred and sixty-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-four... dollars." "That's not exactly the number I had in mind, Wells." "KENNY:" "Well, look, I may be able to borrow a little bit against it, but, you know..." "No, you know what?" "Truth, Mike?" "Th-that's it for now." "Th-that's it." "Can you make it work?" "Hmm?" "I can make anything work." "You work out of a bar, Wells?" "Keeping a lid on expenses, Mike." "Making the dollar holler." "We're in!" "(cheering)" "(shouts in local language)" "KENNY:" "Record player." "That's classy." "Am I paying for that, Mikey?" "Six-man crews, 12-hour shifts around the clock." "Tomorrow we'll start looking at our core samples." "Then we'll send the most promising down river to the assay lab." "The mother lode, Mike." "You're out there, baby." "("This Must Be the Place" by Kishi Bashi plays)" "(sizzling)" "The man that invented the hamburger was smart, Mike." "The man who invented the cheeseburger, now, that's the genius." "Don't ask where the meat came from." "Hmm?" "MIKE:" "Have you ever read Christopher Columbus' journals?" "KENNY:" "Of course not." "MIKE:" "In his petition to the queen of Spain, he promised the conversion to her holy faith of a great number of peoples." "And he went on and mentioned God 26 times." "Gold, on the other hand, he mentioned 114 times." "KENNY:" "Smart dago." "MIKE:" "I've been wanting to ask you something, Wells." "KENNY:" "Fire away, Mike." "What's the meaning of the tattoo on your arm?" "Oh, it's a bird." "It's from a poem I read when I was a kid." "Bird with no feet..." "(whistles) sleeps in the wind." "(Mike chuckles)" "MAN:" "Assay!" "Assay!" "Assay!" "(speaking local language)" "Mike, Mike!" "Hey." "These things, they look worse every time we get one." "Do you remember what I told you about patience?" "Yeah, you-you remember what I told you about money?" "Yeah." "Huh?" " You said that it wasn't a problem." "Well, it... it's a fucking problem now!" "(thunder rumbling)" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Hey..." "Hey, wait!" "Stay!" "Stay!" "Stay!" "Stay!" "(speaks local language)" "Hey!" "Stay..." "Hey!" "Stay" "Stay!" "On top of everything else," "I..." "I got a bad case of malaria, which kills like something like a million people a year, something like that." "Suddenly, I was on the list." "Maybe... maybe we were pushing them too hard." "Maybe we should just take it easy, you know?" "Cut them in." "You know, give them some ownership." "Maybe they'll come back, you know?" "Let them know that they got something at the end, you know, when it all works out." "(mutters)" "Give them a piece of the pie, you know?" "Get up." "Come on, get up." "I'm freezing, Mike." "(Kenny breathing heavily)" "Don't let me die and have nothing, okay?" "Get some rest now." "(Kenny coughing)" "(Mike speaking local language)" "(speaking local language)" "(birds calling, animals hooting)" "I'm pulling the plug." "No." "No, no, no, no, no." "Don't pull the plug, Mike." "No, no." "You can't do that, Mikey." "Let's get you out of here, Wells." "What's the plan, Mikey?" "Hmm?" "Now, I know you got a plan, Mike, hmm?" "I know you got a plan." "What's the plan, hmm?" "What's the plan?" "They need clean water." "If we get filter systems up here," "I think they might come back." "(laughing)" "I got about $1,800 on this Visa right there." "Close to 500 on this Diner's Club." "Use it all, hmm?" "Use it all, Mikey." "(laughs, coughing)" "(clears his throat)" "KENNY"." "Damned if he didn't go to every single place that every one of our workers lived." "Streams that had no name." "All feeding the great Kensana River." "Whoa!" "(chanﬂﬂg)" "(indistinct chatter, cheeﬂng)" "(engine revving)" "KENNY:" "But you know what?" "The workers came back." "I spent the next few weeks in a malarial haze." "Should've been dead." "But Mike kept it all going." "(coughing)" "(gasping)" "(panting)" "What day is it?" "MIKE:" "Noidea." "Month?" "August." "You been sitting there this whole time?" "Let's not get carried away." "What'd the report say?" "What's the news?" "We pulled 17 more cores." "What?" " No good?" " No good." "Mm." "More in the vicinity of great." "Fuck you, Mike." "Don't mess with me, man." "Eighth of an ounce per ton." "Eighth... eighth of an ounce per what?" "Eighth of an ounce per ton." "What... what are you..." "what are you saying, Mike?" "We got a strike in." "We got a gold mine?" "(chuckles)" "We got a gold mine?" "We got a gold mine." "(laughing)" "We got a gold mine, Mike!" "We got a gold mine, Mike!" "We got a gold mine." "We got a goddamn gold mine!" "We got a gold mine!" "We got a goddamn gold mine!" "We got a goddamn..." "BOTH:" "Gold mine!" "We got a gold mine!" "(laughing)" " I knew it, I knew it," "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it." "(both screaming)" "We got a goddamn gold mine!" "Fuck you, mosquitoes!" "(cork POPS) -(cheering)" "KENNY"." "That moment... there's no way I could possibly describe the feeling." "It's amazing how a little gold dust can just change everything." "Now, for better or worse, the ride had begun, and what a goddamn ride." "(laughter)" "Okay, 0K8)'" "Oh, thank God." "(laughter, excited chatter)" "To the best goddamn team in the business." "Fucking-A." "You're a stand-up guy, Kenny." "Sharing the wealth." "Crazy, huh?" "To the mother lode." "OTHERS:" "The mother lode." "("Spill the Wine" by the Isley Brothers plays)" "All right, baby." "Do me a favor." "Close your eyes, will ya?" "All right." "Cover them with your hands." "(Kay laughing)" " KENNY:" "Keep 'em closed." " Okay." "I got you." "I got you." "I got you." "Oh." "Okay." "One, two, three." "It's gonna be our place." "Away from it all, above it all, just like we always wanted." "You like it?" "Huh?" "Yes, of..." "Yes." "Okay, look... the house..." "right here, all right?" "The kitchen, facing there." "The great room over here." "Two fireplaces." "No..." "Can we afford this?" "Almost, baby." "Almost." "We're almost there." "All right, look at this." "Couple bedrooms on that end." "Couple bedrooms on that end." "Okay." "Look at this playground for the kids, huh?" "How many kids you want to have?" "(Kay laughing)" "KAY:" "Kitchen has to stay over here." "We gotta put it over here" "to get the morning light." "Yes!" "And a second kitchen over on this side." "A third one across the creek." "(Kay laughing)" "A fourth one up there with the elk." "(crickets chirping)" "Kenny, Kenny." "Mm?" "This is Walt Kealer." "He publishes Gold Digger magazine." "Mm." "WALT:" "We reach half a million subscribers, and they'd all love to know what you got cooking over there in Indonesia." "If you have a minute, I'll buy you a drink." "He's all yours, Walt." "Hell, I read Gold Digger magazine." "Come on over." "They say you bring this in, you'll get the Golden Pickaxe." "(quietly):" "Aw, shut up." "What do you say about that?" "(laughs):" "I'd say you probably just jinxed it." "How many ounces you guessing?" "Hmm." "Millions, Walt." "Absolutely millions." "Placer mining?" "No." "Hard rock." "This is varsity ball." "How's the infrastructure?" "KENNY:" "Building it from the ground up." "Any message you'd like to give to the readers of Gold Digger magazine?" "The last card you turn over is the only one that matters." "Kenny, it's good to see you." "Good morning, Beverly." "Clive, how are you?" "There he is." "Good to see you, sir." " It's good to see you, son." " Mm-hmm." "CLIVE:" "You know, your father and I, we started together in this business." "Hell, I mean, he put me in the business." "I don't have to tell you that." "He always spoke very highly of you, Clive." "He's one of the best men I ever knew." "Yeah." "Now!" "You have gone from four to 23 cents on your first assay results." "And you pulled in two more to confirm those findings?" "Three more." "Three more?" "Mm-hmm." "Well, that's fantastic." "Well, I would like to underwrite a private placement of Washoe stock." "And I believe that we can raise anywhere between $8 million and $10 million." "Well, capital is definitely at the top of our agenda right now." "Well, yes, it is." "And a lot of people are going to want to make this deal, but history is on our side." "Mm-hmm." "But I just wish you'd brought this to me sooner." "I could have helped you from the get-go." "Hey." " Well, here we are." " Here we are." "Lloyd... top that off for me, will you?" "Straight black with a spicer chaser." "(exhales)" "(Kenny speaks indistinctly)" "Mr. Wells, uh, coffee." "There we are, Lloyd." "Thank you." "Stanton, Mr. Wells has agreed to give us his business on one condition." "Lloyd, I want you to personally handle my account." "(sighs heavily) - - need you to be available to me 24/7," "365, as you will be riding shotgun in my jockstrap." "Absolutely." "Yes." "Thank you." "Well, let's quit standing around here and go make some goddamn money, huh?" "That sounds good to me." "MIKE:" "Kenny?" "Kenny?" "Kenny, did you read the last report?" "Kenny, did you read the last report?" "KENNY"." "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." "No, I'm looking at them right now." "Holy shit!" "Holy shit is right, my friend." "(both laughing)" "KENNY"." "No, it's unbelievable." "Holy shit." "Bobby, I can hear your wife smiling from here." "Right back where you belong, Kenny." "Yeah, there's a lot of ghosts in this building, boys." "(elevator bell dings)" " Oh, nice work, Todd!" "Whoo-hoo-hoo!" "KENNY:" "All right, men." "Now, this stock is going to start cooking." "Make sure you put a little bit away." "Sell some." "Just the long way." "Just in case." "Especially you." "What?" "Put a little bit away." " ..." "For the first time in your life, think rainy day, Bobby, okay?" "Of-of course." "Of course." "Hey." "What?" "Okay?" "_()kay." "_Q ay" "Oh, we're going to be so fucking rich." "At least look like you're working, man." "(knocking on door)" "MAN:" "Yeah?" "What do you got?" "Wildcatters, basically." "This Mike Acosta has had some success." "Copper." "Got taken over by Freeport Mac." " It's all in there." " Yeah." "I've heard of Acosta." "I like this." "LLOYD:" "Bu!" "' I think We start with the good news, which is that we are, uh, 50% allocated and, uh, we want to set aside, uh," "3O of the remaining 5O for you boys..." "There's more food here." "Don't drink through lunch." "All right?" "(other laughing)" "Or just eat something as well." "(laughs)" "(phone ringing)" "Hey, Kay!" "Phone!" "What?" "Phone, please." "That one." "Thank you." "You want me to answer it?" "Hello." "Uh, Washoe Mining." "How may I direct your call?" " Hi." "Uh, Kenneth Wells, please." " Please hold." "Kenny, you got a call!" "Thank you, dear." "Love you, baby." "All right." "Kenny Wells." "This is Brian Woolf at Brown, Thomas in New York." "I'm with the minerals and oil group." "No shit." "(Snapping fingers)" "Uh-huh." "Uh-huh." "Well, that sounds outstanding, Brian." "And let me tell you something." "I'm looking forward to it." "All right." " ♪ ♪" " They're fucking flying me out." " They're fucking flying me out." "(laughter)" "(Kay squeals)" "Come on!" "KENNY"." "Yeah, the way I see it, what banks do-- who knows?" "But what made this country is not tight asses in suits-- no offense-- taking the easy way down, but guys like me and Mike who jump." "What we have is a private placement in play here." "Already over 50% subscribed." "Now, if the numbers keep coming in good, which..." "they're fucking going to, the sky is the limit on this thing." "You don't have to sell us." "We've done the math." "We believe you're sitting on the largest gold find of the decade." "May I speak plainly, Mr. Wells?" "Of course, Brian." "That's the only way to speak." "Our clients are going to want to see a serious plan to turn lab results in a volatile region into an investment we can all stake our reputations on." "It's not going to be a problem." "No, it's not a problem, per se, but the fact remains that neither of you have taken a find of this magnitude through production." "KENNY (chuckles):" "Wait just a minute there, Brian." "We-we found it, we can dig it up." " It's not that complicated." " Actually, historically, we found it could be quite complicated, and we'd like the opportunity to help you formulate how you present the operation side." "Wh-what-what exactly does that mean?" "I'd like you both to consider bringing on a strategic partner." "Oh." "(glass clanks)" "All right." "(clears throat)" "Have any of you ever set one of your..." "your handmade loafers down in the hole in the side of a mountain?" " No." " No." "We have." "Washoe has history." "We've done a fairly thorough analysis of Washoe," "Mr. Wells, and we feel like you need strategic help." "No." "No way." "No." "This is a new day, all right'?" "And Indonesia is goddamn different." "We can help you get off the side of that mountain." "I don't need any help getting off the side of the goddamn mountain." "I can land this plane." "I can!" "Wells came and found me." "I was at a low point, I have to admit." "It happens in this business, ups and downs." "But he backed me with his last cent, and more than that, he risked his life, almost lost it, actually." "It was touch and go there for a bit." "And now we have the bull by its horns." "KENNY:" "And, boys, they're big fucking horns." "MIKE:" "I've worked with the best, and I can tell you Kenny Wells is up there with them." "BRIAN:" "We're not by any stretch of the imagination suggesting at this moment that anybody take a backseat." "Just be open to strategic alliances." "No fucking... way!" "(muffled shouting)" "It's a dime out of every one of my dollars, not your dollars!" "I said no a second ago." "You want to invest?" "We got the gold." "We can talk about it." "(Mike sighs)" "Don't need a fucking partner." "I know that." "You know, there's something about... finding gold... that is so difficult to put into words." "It's real difficult." "Taste of it on your tongue." "The feel of it between your fingers, it's... it's electric." "It's like a drug, 'cause it hooks you." "And it's precisely what you're missing here in the city." "It's what makes it so hard for us to have this conversation because you have never felt it." "So I have a proposal for you." "Put together your institutional players, the guys who rep the big money." "Whoever needs to kick the tires on this thing." "I will take them on a little trip up the river." "So... it was Acosta who proposed the-the junket in Kensana?" "Or did you cook that up together?" "KENNY:" "Oh, Jennings, you're..." "you're not getting it." "Look, we-we didn't feel like we had to cook up anything." "I mean, I had people coming at me from all sides." "My-my neighbor, Hart Hubbard, he's a lawn care professional." "Usually only worried about Kay's mulberry tree leaning over the back of his fence, but now he's dropping mining terms." ""Hey, Kenny, how's the grade purity over there at Kensana?" "I hear it's great." "How about the core frequency?"" "Hart fucking Hubbard." "He mows grass for a living." "We interviewed Mr. Hubbard." "What I'm saying is we didn't think we needed to cook up anything." "Everybody wanted in." "So it was Acosta who proposed the banker junket?" "Yes." "It was a genius move." "KENNY:" "Now, you get outside, stick close to me and hang on to your wallets." "(horns honking)" "(speaks indistinctly)" "Come on, come on." "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." "Back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back." "There he is." "Gentlemen, Mike Acosta." "Glen." "Acosta." "Bobby." "Acosta." "Jeff Jackson." "If any one of you wants to turn back, this is your chance." "What's that?" "(laughing)" "He's just messing with you." "Welcome to Indo, boys." "MIKE:" "When we got the hit, we stepped out in a radiating pattern and we kept going until we had the definitive picture." "We're mapping the underlying geology." "The cores are cut into sections, and then crushed." "(metallic clang)" "They are then bagged and sealed." "This cage is guarded 24/7." "Under guard, the samples are sent down river to independent labs in Kalimantan." "If a seal is broken or damaged in any way, the lab, by law, has to discard the entire sample." "Every safeguard has been put in place to assure the security of the process." "Diamond-tipped saw blades, rock crushers." "Core samples being ripped from the guts of the Earth." "It all sounds great, but you boys want to see some gold." "No one's going to believe this shit." "So, what do you think?" "Not sure." "What about you?" "Acosta seems to know what he's talking about, but, uh, I don't know." "Hey." "He)'" "Come here, come here." "I think I..." "I think I got something." "See this?" "Few more like this, you can pave Wall Street." "(laughing)" "KENNY"." "When Jackson pulled that nugget out, we had 'em." "BRIAN:" "Brown, Thomas is proud to announce the public offering of 27 million shares of class A common stock and the initial listing of Washoe Mining on the New York Stock Exchange!" "(cheering)" "We're all going to make a lot of fucking money!" "("Rip It Up" by Orange Juice plays)" "DOORMAN:" "Welcome to the Waldorf Astoria, ma'am." "We'll get your bags right upstairs." "Kenny?" "Are you here?" "Baby?" "Where are you?" "KENNY:" "Ah." "KAY:" "Oh, my goodness." "KENNY:" "You surprised?" "Yeah." "It's your favorite flower, right?" "Babe." "You look beautiful, Kay." "Come here." "I have missed you so much." "You have no idea." "(moaning)" "Are these the softest sheets you've ever felt?" "Yeah, you know, I think they are." "Yeah." " You want to get under 'em'?" " Yeah." "KENNY:" "Oh, hello, men." "Everyone, meet the lovely Kay." "Brian." "Hi." "Nice to meet you." " Hollis." "Kay." " Hi." " Pleasure." " Nice to meet you." "Stanton, you know." "Hey." "The only man in this business that sweats as much as I do." "All right, let's do this, huh?" "Ah, there he is." "Mike Acosta, the one and only." "Mike, meet Kay." "Two of my favorite people in the world." "You know this one stole my watch to go meet you." " You stole her watch?" " Oh, no, no, no." "No..." " I'm just teasing." " She's just teasing." "No, you're not." "No, she's not." " No, I'm not." "(laughing)" "I didn't know what time it..." "I got to go." "It's so good to meet you, Mike." "You must be very proud." "Never doubted for a second." "(crowd cheering) -(whooping)" "Here we go!" "Five!" "Four!" "Three!" "Two!" "One!" "Yeah... baby!" "(cheering, whooping)" "I'm ringing the bell, baby!" ": r -(cheering)" "(cheering)" "REPORTER:" "In the story we've been following very closely," "Washoe Mining may be the stock of the year." "REPORTER 2:" "On their ﬁrst day on the New York Stock Exchange, Washoe Mining turned into a rocket ship today." "Hi." "Great to meet you." "Kenny." "Mike." "Come." "Oh." "No, I'm okay." "Thank you." "This and the money are in the genes." "(low, indistinct conversations)" "How are you?" "Kenny Wells." "Good to meet you." "(laughter)" "True fucking story." "Who at this table wants to know the secret to winning bets at pro football?" "BOBBY:" "What's that?" "Take the east coast team every fucking time." "You know why?" "The west coast team-- to them, they're playing after midnight." "(sighs)" "(low, indistinct conversations)" " Rachel Hill." " Mm." "Giants fan." "Kenny Wells, Rachel." "So, what do you do, Rachel Hill?" " Investor relations." " Mm." "Brown, Thomas." "On the team." "Cheers to that." "You got to be the best-looking one on the team, I'll tell you that." "BRIAN:" "It's like a drunk raccoon got a hold of the Hope diamond." "You don't want to get too close, but you're not going to let it get away either." "uaughs)" " It's your raccoon." " Mm." "You let it run a multi-billion-dollar company?" "What, and lose you as a client and half the rest of my business?" "There's risks and there's risks." "Still, it was a good fucking day." "Now, who wants to buy me a drink?" "Three double shots of Jack." "So tell me, to go out into the wilderness with your bare hands and discover something that everybody wants how does that feel?" "I, uh... propose a toast." "Hear, hear." "To a small creature, often misunderstood." "(glasses clink)" "To the raccoon." "Well, fuck me." "("Blue Monday" by New Order plays)" "(quietly):" "River of gold." "The thing is, if you don't watch it, gold will grow on you." "(laughing)" "I can see that now." "Mm." "I don't want to talk about it." "What did..." "I wasn't doing anything." "I said I don't want to talk about it!" "Well, what the fuck should I have done, huh?" "Just bend her over the table right there and fucking banged her in front of everybody?" "You are too drunk to get it up anyway." "I'll take that challenge, baby." "I don't care about you flirting with Miss Pneumatic 1988." "You think I haven't seen that shit before, Kenny?" "She had tiny little fucking titties." "You don't think they were real?" "No, none of this is real." "None of it." "KENNY:" "Why are you fucking..." "We made it!" "Shit." "Baby, what the fuck?" "!" "You know what your problem is, Kay?" "No." "Why don't you tell me." "You've got no vision." "Right?" "Fucking vision." "Your vision starts right here, and it goes to right here." "Right here is the fucking kitchen sink, and right here's the goddamn parking lot at the furniture store." "Come on." "You mean an actual job that would support a person in the place they live?" "You mean that vision?" "You know what?" "Fuck you." "Ah, Kay, fuck me." "Fuck you." "Fuck you." "Fuck..." "Wh-wh-what, what?" "Don't you see what's happening here?" "Oh, great." "Go..." "Yeah, yeah." "Pack your shit, run back to your shitty life, huh?" "You know what?" "I like my shitty life." "Christ." " It's mine." " Fucking giving this up." "You always wanted a broken bird, didn't you?" "Said the right things, but in here, you never fucking believed in me, did you?" "You never believed in me, did you, Kay?" "Hmm?" "You like me losing, don't you?" "How can you even say that?" "It makes you feel comfortable, doesn't it?" "Does it feel comfortable, Kay?" "These people are using you." "They don't care about you." "I don't fucking... (crying):" "And they certainly don't believe in you." "Yeah, but, Kay, I found gold." "(crying):" "Goddamn..." "Now we're winning, babe." "Would you just let me have the win?" "We're winning!" "(glass breaking)" "It ever occur to you that I know what I'm doing?" "I hope you do." "Huh?" "I do." "I love what's in there..." "Mm." "more than you'll ever know." "These guys are going to tear you up." "Mm." "Don't ask me to watch what happens next." "I know what I'm doing, Kay." "I know what I'm fucking doing." "(door slam shut)" "JENNINGS:" "What'd you do next, Wells?" "What did I do?" "I rode it." "I rode it, Jennings." "(chatter, laughter)" "BARTENDER:" "Another double." "Seagram's on the rocks." "Yes, sir." "RACHEL:" "And I'll have the same." "Oh, goddamn." "You don't have to impress me." "Reminds me of my childhood." "So how is everything in the very enchanted world of Kenny Wells?" "I feel like a million bucks, only a few hundred times better." "That must be a very nice feeling." "Yeah." "It looks like there's a... a few other people around here with a similar feeling." "Mm, maybe." "Maybe not." "(crickets chirping, water splashing)" "KENNY:" "How does someone like yourself end up, uh, here?" "I know Tom." "Tom is a friend." " Oh, I bet he is." "(laughs) Now, now." "I stay with his cousin, Timmy, down the lane." "Timmy's really quite a character, if you get to know him." "I don't know Timmy." "I don't really feel like talking." "Let's just feel things." "MAN:" "Wells." "Kenny Wells?" "KENNY:" "Uh-huh." "Mark Hancock." "Seems I've caught you at a bit of a disadvantage, Mr. Wells." "Depends on how you look at it." "Kenny goddamn Wells, Mark." "This is Rachel." "Oh, I know the lovely Rachel." "KENNY:" "You know, this son of a bitch here, he controls more gold than anybody on the goddamn planet." "With the possible exception now of Mr. Wells." "This is how it happens, huh?" "This is how it happens." "Goddamn." "("Temptation" by New Order plays)" "MARK"." "What can I tell you?" " Kenny, it's a generous offer." " It's a fucking joke!" "Let's-let's take this..." "This isn't a deal, Brian." "This is a goddamn rape." " Listen..." "listen to me." " No, no, this is mine!" "It's mine!" " found it!" "Me and Mike." "We were the ones up to our ass in the mud and the shit and the malaria." "And this little prick offers a minority partnership?" "Kenny, let's keep some perspective here, okay?" "Whenever anybody offers this amount of money, it's a good day." "You may say yes, you may say no, but it's not like anybody's trying to offend you." "Well, mission goddamn not accomplished." "Hancock and Newport Holdings have the expertise and the experience to bring this home." "This was always there as a contingency." "No, no." "You know that." "No, no, no." "This is when Washoe Mining becomes a player, right here, right fucking now." "Not Mark fucking Hancock and Newport Holdings." "I don't even see our name on here, Brian." "You took our fucking name... you took my name off it." "But if we take a step back here, wouldn't it not be terrible to sit back and enjoy your success?" ""Wouldn't it not be terrible"?" "What the fuck kind of way of talking is that, Brian?" "W-W-Wouldn't it not be terrible if I bend over and grab my ankles so you could fuck me up the ass?" "You think you can buy me out and take my name?" "Or just throw Kenny Wells to the fucking cornfield?" "Fuck you, Brian." "If we hit pause for a second and consider, without emotion," "I think you'll realize that this is one of those very rare moments where, with a stroke of a pen, no one in your family" "I'm talking your children's grandchildren-- will ever have to worry about money again." "You see these hands, Brian?" "These are my father's hands." "I have scratched and clawed through the hot earth with these hands, and I will bury you with these hands." "Now, you go tell that silky sable, Mark Hancock... he works for Kenny Wells." "My fucking d8)'" "My day!" "(sighs)" "You know, I almost respect this guy." "JENNINGS:" "That was a pretty foolish business decision, wasn't it?" "You're a foot away from living in your car." "You turned down $300 million?" "Over naming rights?" "Yeah, I did." "Because Kensana would become a Newport Mine, right?" "And Mark fucking Hancock's Midas touch continues." "Me, Kenny Wells, the-the lucky bastard who fell down drunk and woke up in a pile of cash." "No." "It was my dream." "I dreamed it." "You sell your dream... what do you have left?" "(speaking local language)" "Good morning, Stacy." "How are you today?" "Good." "How's Ronnie?" "Good?" "Thank you." "Okay." "Mm." "Kenny." "Mike's on the line." "Come on." "Mike, hang on." "Kenny..." "Kenny's here." "Come on!" " It's Mike." "It's a fucking shit-storm." "Mm." "Mikey, what's up?" "They're locking us out." "They're what?" "They're locking us out!" "The military's here." "They're taking over the mine." "What happened at your meeting with Hancock?" "What happened at the meeting, Kenny?" "!" "Listen, Mike, they-they were trying to push us out." "Push us out?" "Wha-What do you mean, push us out?" "They took... they took our names off it, Mike." "Mine and yours." "They took our fucking names off." "Aw, you fucking moron!" "They can't... can't just revoke the-the permit, all right?" "They can't just steal it away." "Kenny, what?" "What the fuck is going on?" "MIKE:" "Of course they can revoke the permit!" "Suharto can do whatever the fuck he wants!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Mike!" "Kenny, what's going on?" "What the fuck is going on?" "Shh!" "(speaking local language)" " Mike." "Mike." " MIKE:" "Kenny, we lost the site." "I told you, man." "You knew exactly who we were dealing with." "These people are killers." "Hancock first among them." "I told you, Kenny." "Now it's gone." "Uh... (takes deep breath)" "KENNY"." "So it turns out that in addition to having, um, longstanding ties with Suharto..." "Newport Holdings actually had on its board a certain ex-president of the United States." "Who was also..." "(chuckles softly) in one of Suhart0's weddings... as a groomsman." "So you see, that whole time they're telling me how rich my grandkids are gonna be, they got a backup plan." "They're gonna pick my pocket and steal it all away." "TV NEWSMAN:" "Washoe stock was off nearly 50 points at the opening bell this morning on news of the Suharto government's revocation of Washoe's exploration rights." "President and CEO, Kenny Wells, has not..." "KENNY:" "All fucking con men." "They stole it's what they did." "They goddamn stole it." "Mm." "(Kenny coughs)" "You're gonna need to go home, Kenny." "Just pour me a goddamn drink, Roy." "Go home, Kenny." "(pounds bartop)" "KAY"." "This is us." "We can't get to the phone... (vehicles passing by)" "Wrong number." "(phone ringing)" "KAY:" "This is us." "We can't get to the phone right now." "You know what to do." "(beep)" "KENNY:" "Hey, hey, Kay." "It's me." "Uh..." "I-I-I-I guess you're not home, you know, right now." "I was..." "and I was just calling..." "Honey, I really..." "I want to hear your voice." "(Kenny exhales)" "I s..." "l-l screwed up, Kay." "(sighs) I want..." "I wanted to build something." "Something real that would last... last for you and me and... (exhales):" "for Dad." "(sighs)" "(crying):" "That's all I wanted to do." "(Kay sighs)" "But you were right, you know?" "(soft, wry chuckle)" "You were right." "Again." "I love you, Kay." "Mm, I'm gonna..." "I'm gonna stop now." "I'm-I'm not gonna call..." "I'm not gonna call you anymore." "WOMAN:" "Oh, my God, is that him?" "MAN:" "Yeah, that's Acosta." "WOMAN:" "He looks different in person." "Isn't he supposed to be in Indonesia?" "Where is he?" "(soft snoring) -(beeping over phone)" "MIKE:" "Here you are." "Get up!" "You don't own my fucking company just 'cause you..." "Quit fucking kicking me." "(Mike speaking Spanish)" "I didn't know who it was till I heard the cocky fucking talk." "Ah?" "(grunts)" "Fucking moron." "MIKE:" "Oh, yeah?" "You're gonna fight?" "Yeah?" "Yeah?" "Yeah?" "Yeah, you want to fight?" "Yeah, you want to fight now?" "After losing my fucking company?" "You want to fight now?" "Yeah, you want to fight?" "Yeah?" "Yeah?" "(continues indistinctly)" "(groans)" "(Kenny sighs)" "(groans)" "You know what they say?" "That you're a drunk." "A clown." "Out of your league." "Yeah, well, fuck them." "Yeah, fuck them." "You know what?" "Fuck you, too." "You think I want to hear from the fucking golden boy standing there in his golden glow telling me how messed up everything is?" "Huh?" "No, go fucking back to your perch at the Jakarta Palace, huh?" "Huh?" "You can use that instinct of yours to find some new strike with some new people." "ls that what you think?" "I know you, man." "You're Mike fucking Acosta." "(sighs)" "Prick." "0K8)'" "Let me tell you what really happened." "We're in North Sulawesi." "Monsoon season." "It's 1980." "Yeah." "The famous copper strike." "Only we was looking for bauxite." "On my way to..." "where I'm planning to drill," "I get us stuck." "Five feet of mud." "We're just sitting in the rain day after day, watching the metal rust." "What'd you do?" "Under the theory that it's better to do something than nothing, I... reported... this was the spot." "Nowhere became somewhere." "The place you got stuck." "I got lucky." "(chuckles)" "I fucking love that." "You went looking for bauxite, and you found copper." "I went looking for gold and... found a friend." "That is the single hokiest thing" "I've ever heard in my life." "$0, you got a plan?" "Don't you?" "KENNY"." "So, get this." "Turns out Suharto had a son, his youngest, Darmadi," "AKA Danny." "Bit of a screw-up, real problem for the old man." "Mm, safe to say we understood each other." "So, Suharto had been trying to get Danny set up for years, all right, but everything Danny touched turned to shit." "Now, {figure if we can bring Danny on board as a partner, maybe he could get Daddy to change his mind and swing things back our way." "Now, it was a Hail Mary from our own one-yard line, but it was all we had." "But it also didn't hurt that Danny had been regularly ignored by a certain ex-president of the United States who was a groomsman at his father's third wedding and also happened to sit on the board at Newport Holdings." "So, this guy goes to a Cadillac dealership." "Right?" "Dealer comes out and he says, "Sir, are you thinking about buying a Cadillac?"" "He says, "No." "I'm definitely buying a Cadillac." ""What I'm thinking about... is pussy."" "(Kenny laughing)" "(laughing):" "Pussy." "(chuckles)" "Mm." "Oh, shit." "Cadillac is..." "PUSSY magnet." "(laughing)" "You like Cadillacs." "Yeah!" "("Hey" by Pixies plays)" "KENNY:" "Hey!" "Heads up, right there." "Oh!" "(exhales):" "Ah..." "I gotta ride shotgun." " ♪ ♪" " Ha-ha!" "DANNY"." "President Gerald Ford," "a tall man." "Mm-hmm." "George H.W. Bush... a very tall man." "Mm-hmm." "Mark Hancock... also tall man." "My father... small man." "Small in stature." "But... he loves his family." "Mine, too." "Yeah." "Died in the driveway bringing in the groceries for my mother." "His heart." "(Kenny sniffs)" "Fuck, well, it makes sense, huh?" "To father of Wells." "(glasses clink) 85/15 Split, if you have the balls." "50/50, and I might consider it." "That's a fucking deal." "That's a deal if you have the balls." "No balls, no deal." "Kenny do you have balls?" " You asking me if I got fucking balls'?" "Yeah." "Fuck, he has balls." " Go in there?" " Mm-hmm." "(laughs):" "Fucking 85/15 fucking split?" "Mm-hmm." "No balls... no deal." "Open it." "(Danny laughing)" "(growling)" "(growling stops)" "(low growling)" "(low growling)" "(fierce growl)" "(growling)" "(low growling)" "(huffing)" "(low g '0W )" "(nervous chuckling):" "I'm touching a tiger." "I'll pull my cock out, we go 60/40." "(chuckling):" "Ah, fuck you." "KENNY"." "Mike, I'm touching a tiger right between the eyes." "Hollis, what's going on?" "You haven't heard?" "Wells cut a deal." "A deal?" "What are you talking about?" "Who cut a deal with him?" "Suharto." "The Indonesian government." "What?" "Washoe retains 15% of the find." "The other 85 goes to a company of Suharto's choosing, which just so happens to be owned by his son." "Wells cut us off at the knees." "What about Hancock?" "He's out." "Can't compete at that number." "Dea 's done, Brian." "Wells and Acosta are now the only outside partners in the biggest gold strike in history." "We represent exactly none of it." "15% is a terrible deal." "ls it?" "What's 15% 0f $30 billion?" "I can explain." "You met him." "You'll be fine, Brian." "You'll land on your feet." "(people cheering)" "(lively chatter, whooping)" "I was afraid you'd come home with a bone in your nose" "or some such shit." "(laughs) How are we doing?" "Good, man." "Hey, where's Kay?" "You didn't hear?" "Hear what?" "She quit." "She got a promotion out at the store." "Assistant manager." "BURNS:" "Hey, Roy, turn that up." "MAN:" "Kenny Wells, right there!" "It's on the news, man!" "NEWSWOMAN:" "...massive gold strike, fending off a takeover by Newport Holdings." "Washoe shares are soaring..." "0h, yeah!" "—(cheering, whooping)" "Soaring!" "Soaring!" "CLIVE:" "Kenny!" "Can I see you a minute?" "What you got, Clive?" "I just got a call." "The National Association of Prospectors is gonna honor you with the Golden Pickaxe." " You shitting' me'?" " No, I'm not." "You are now the best miner in the world." "And I'm sure somewhere your daddy is smiling." "Well, goddamn, if he's not, I can smile for the both of us." "Ah... (chuckles) Where are you going?" "Got to find someone." "("Atmosphere" by Joy Division plays)" "(knocking)" "Yeah?" "Mike." "I didn't think you could make it." "(quietly);" "Okay," "(chuckles) A thousand monkeys, thousand horses... uh... and across and around..." "(takes deep breath)" "(exhales)" "I'm nervous." "You're gonna be okay." "(sighs)" ""Every last one of us" ""who calls the great state of Nevada home..." ""arrived here..." ""with a dream." ""It was my great granddad who came out here on a wagon." ""He had a horse and he had two mules..." ""when they finally stopped moving" ""and said..." "'This is the place."" "Too much?" "(chuckles softly) That's good." "Yeah." "(cheering, applause)" "MAN"." "...our own Kenny Wells!" "Get up here, Kenny!" " ♪ ♪ -(whistling)" "(cheering)" "Thank you." "Um..." "My great granddad... was one of us." "He came out here in a wagon with two horses and a mule, and, you know, he crossed six states before he slowed down, and it was... it was when he got here that he finally pulled those reins back and said..." ""This is the place." -(murmuring, chuckling)" "(camera shutter clicking)" "What is a prospector?" "(murmuring, chuckling)" "No, no, I..." "Seriously, what..." "What is a prospector?" "It's someone who believes... it's out there." "Who wakes up every morning, again and again, again and again believing it's out there." " And then it's not." "(laughter)" "Right?" "It's not." "Mm-hmm." "Mm-hmm." "And he's standing on the edge of the desert, staring a... new day's sunrise right in the eye, and... and he hears that little voice, a little voice that says..." ""Go ahead." "Keep walking."" "And the sun gets higher and higher, and it's shining down on him, and he's really hot, and he doesn't have any water to drink, and everybody that came with him wants to turn back," "and eventually, they do turn back, and there he is." "And he's all alone." "With the belief that it's out there, man." "(hoarsely):" "It's out there." "That's a prospector." "—(man whoops) -(app ause)" "That's a prospector." " ♪ ♪ -(shutters clicking)" "(cheering)" "Really great speech, son." "Just great." "Great." "("188O or So" by Television plays)" "(cheering, whistling)" "(cheering)" "To your daddy." "OTHERS:" "To Mr. Wells!" "(phone ringing)" "(ringing continues) -(soft snoring)" "(Kenny groaning)" "(ringing continues) -(groaning)" "(clacking, thumping)" "Mm." "(low whirring)" "Yeah?" "(coughing)" "(whirring stops) -(¢0u9hs) What?" "Say-say again?" "No, l-l don't understand." "Wait-wait. (mumbles)" "(muffled chatter)" "WOMAN:" "Kenny, what's going on?" "(lively chatter)" "Kenny... what happened?" "I don't know." "I'm going to find out." "(angry shouting)" "I don't know any more than... (many speaking at once)" "(angry chatter continues)" "You're not gonna get away with this!" "(crowd shouting)" "Back the fuck off!" "WOMAN:" "Kenny, please fix this!" "What happened, huh?" "What happened?" "The independent assayer." "They couldn't reproduce Mike's findings." "(phones ringing)" "CONNIE:" "There's no gold." "Kenny, there's no goddamn gold." "There never was." "That's not possible." "MAN:" "The image on the left is the type of gold found in the Washoe samples." "This is river gold." "Notice how the edges are rounded, worn smooth by the erosion of water." "What we should have found is flake gold, the sample on the right, pulled directly from the rock, rough-edged and angular." "That's a pretty darn big detail to overlook," "(chuckles):" "wouldn't you say?" "It's a big detail, but..." "you have to understand, everything else about the Washoe samples was right." "But the gold was wrong." "MAN:" "It's called salting-- it literally means when someone sprinkles gold dust into a rock sample, like you... salt your steak." "It is the oldest trick in the book." "WOMAN:" "Oldest trick in the book?" "And yet major mining corporations, investment banks, the auditors, everyone was fooled." "We weren't fooled." "We just didn't look." "By all appearances," "Washoe's security protocol were ironclad." "But... when the person administering the security is fraudulent, the whole system goes down." "KENNY:" "Right." "Did he say... wh-wh-where-where he was going?" "Did he mention Jakarta?" "I'll call you back." "The New York Stock Exchange just suspended trading." "They've taken Washoe off the board." "(exhales)" "You sold some, right?" "Yeah." "Of course." "(whispers):" "Bobby lthoughtu" "I thought it was just gonna keep going up. (chuckles)" "Damn it, Bobby, I told you from the beginning just put some away, save a little bit just in case." "How many times did I tell you that?" "Kenny, did you know?" "Did you know, Kenny?" "Did I know?" "I can't believe you would ask me that." "I'm asking you that." "Did you know?" "No, I goddamn didn't know, Bobby." "(exhales)" " CONNIE:" "Kenny." "(phones ringing in distance)" "Kenny." "What?" "I don't even know how to tell you this." "Just look." "(Connie sighs)" "Acosta was dumping stock." " Mm." " Shell companies." "Banks in the Philippines, the fucking Azores." "Gibraltar." "Multiple layers, all offshore." "How much?" "$164 million." "(Kenny shudders)" "(turns page)" "STANTON:" "Okay, uh... what are we gonna do?" "(glass shatters)" "(groans)" "I don't fucking believe this." "Hmm?" "MAN (in distance):" "This is the FBI!" "Step away from your desks!" "Take two big steps away from your desks!" "Do not touch anything!" "ROGER MUDD:" "How much money was lost in the fraud," "that we know of?" "Oh, billions." "Large institutional investors" "lost billions of dollars." "So one or maybe both of them, two outsiders, took everybody on Wall Street for a ride?" "MARK:" "Yeah, it really looks like they did." "Yeah." "And Acosta has vanished?" "With hundreds of millions of dollars." "Kenny Wells has always maintained his innocence, that he was duped along with everyone else." "Given that, what do you make of this?" "Kenny Wells, a fool or a mastermind?" "MARK:" "It's a very good question, Roger." "(camera shutter clicking)" "Um..." "Mike-Mike Acosta was my friend and, uh, my partner." "Um and he-he betrayed me." " know as CEO of Washoe Mining it's my responsibility to know everything that's going on, and I..." "I didn't." "It's not an excuse." "All right?" "I sincerely apologize to everybody and anybody that lost on their investments." "(chuckles):" "Come on, Mike." "Mikey, come on in, man." "All right?" "What happened, huh?" "(people shouting)" "Howard." "WOMAN:" "I saw you on TV." "Hey, man, can I talk to you for a minute, please?" "No." "Look, I just want to know where my money went." "Come on!" "Don't know anything about it, okay?" "Mr." "Wells," "Mr. Wells, exactly when will you be departing?" "Uh, later." "A few days or so." "I'll let you know." " We just need to talk about your bill, sir." "I'll be down." "We'll settle it up." "("Gold" by Iggy Pop plays)" "(exhales)" "KENNY:" "Do I need a lawyer?" "JENNINGS:" "Do you need a lawyer?" "Right answer." "(Kenny sniffs)" "How'd you meet Michael Acosta?" "The, uh, first time or the second time?" "How'd you meet him, Wells?" "It was April... of '88." "(sighs)" "Yeah, I was on the balls of my ass." "Scrambling. (chuckles)" "Not exactly uncharted waters for me, but..." "I was in deep." "(siren wailing in distance)" "JENNINGS:" "I think it's pretty unlikely we'll ever see your partner again." "What are you talking about?" "A lot of very powerful people are very angry at Michael Acosta." "Well, what happened?" "What happened?" "$17 billion of value disappeared overnight." "Mike Acosta waves good-bye to you in the ballroom downstairs and goes back to Indonesia on a jet chartered with Washoe funds." "And then he does a disappearing act." "But this you know." "First, he's locked out of the assay lab in Kalimantan by the minister of the interior." "So he goes back to Jakarta..." "Mr." "Acosta, please walk with with me." "JENNINGS: ...where he's immediately detained by the Indonesian military." "And they hold him while they try to reproduce for themselves the lab results claimed by Washoe." "Which, of course, they are unable to do." "Now, at this point, either he's being transferred to an actual prison, or... he's bribed one of the officers." "Either way, he's on a military helicopter." "They fly north, loosely tracking the Kensana River." "A thousand feet up, over the Kensana..." "Mike Acosta takes a header." "No way." "No fucking way." "He either faked it, or he paid to have this-this bullshit story you're telling put out." "$164 million goes a long way in Indonesia." "They found a body." "(snorting)" "JENNINGS:" "Hands and face were eaten away, probably by wild pigs." "KENNY:" "Sure this is him?" "I'm not sure of anything... except Mike Acosta traded water filters for river gold." "But now the Indonesian government have gone unusually quiet on the subject." "There was an autopsy corroborating the identity of the body." "They then sealed the report cremated the remains." "Interestingly, Danny Suharto, your friend... dumped a lot of stock as well." "So the Suhartos are even richer now." "Mike Acosta is ostensibly dead and buried, and... $164 million is still missing." "And the only question..." "I'm left with is... whether or not you were in on it." "(softly):" "I..." "I can't believe it." "Can't believe what?" "No, look, th-this business... had written Mike off years ago, all right?" "They called his theories crap." "But... there's no way." "He wouldn't, he fucking couldn't let this be the last word on him." " No fucking way." "You talking about Acosta or yourself?" "(deep, trembling breath)" "(Pants)" "All right, look." "We-we-we were running out of money, right?" "And I was practically dying from malaria." "I gave Mike the last dollar to my name." "And I made him promise me something, I said, "Mike... don't let me die out here for nothing."" "A few weeks later, I came to, and..." "Mike was there." "(chuckles)" "He said, "We got..." ""we got a strike, Kenny." "We got a goddamn gold mine."" "And th-there's no way that he set out to swindle anyone." "He just needed to buy a little more time." "And he didn't want to let me down." "MAN:" "You're fuckin' lyin'." "Levine, sit down!" "You want to talk about the truth?" "All right, let's talk about the truth." "The only truth here is, when everybody's getting rich, nobody gives a shit about the truth." "Come the fuck on." "All anyone had to do was look, open their eyes." "Man, the-the gold was wrong, the find was too good." "There were red flags everywhere." "Why did no one look?" "'Cause no one wanted to fucking know." "We all wanted to believe." "Me, you, fucking everybody." "Why?" "Because we were all making so much fucking money, man." "That's the truth." "That's been going on for fucking centuries!" "(laughing):" "Oh, fuck..." "Were you aware Mike Acosta was salting" "the Washoe core samples?" " No." "You had no knowledge" "Mike Acosta was perpetrating a fraud?" "No." "You were not in collusion with Mike Acosta on the Kensana gold strike?" "No, man, I fucking thought I won the lottery." "Did you profit from the Kensana fraud?" "No." "Did anyone close to you profit?" "My friends lost money." "My neighbors lost money." "Me..." "I lost everything." "(Kenny takes swig)" "You know what the truth of it is?" "I never really cared about money." "I cared about gold." "And it's different, Jennings." "It's fucking different." "(glass clinks, liquid pours)" "(sets bottle down)" "(exhales)" "Interview terminated with Kenny Wells... 6:45 a.m.," "October 17, 1988." "Interview conducted by myself," "Paul K. Jennings, special agent." "Also present, agents Levine and Banks," "Federal Bureau of Investigation, district of Nevada, Reno." "Mr. Kenny Wells... (bell tolling in distance) ...you are free to go." "(whispers):" "Well, lookee there." "Somebody believes me." "I wouldn't go overboard." "In fact, I wouldn't leave the state, or start buying new stuff or chartering" "any more jets." "I gotta sneak by the guy at the front desk 'cause I can't pay the hotel bill." "I can't be a party to that information." "BANKS:" "Good luck, Mr. Wells." "LEVINE:" "We'll be keeping an eye on you." "(door opens)" "What are you gonna do now, Wells?" "(birds chirping)" "(vehicles rumbling by in distance)" "(groans)" "(birds screeching)" "(dog barking in distance)" "(bird squawking)" "Hey, Kenny." "L-I'm still worried about that mulberry" "over the back fence." "Yeah." "I know, Hart." "It's good to see you." "Good to see you, too, Kenny." "(rings doorbell)" "Can I come in?" "(door squeaks)" "You want coffee?" "Yeah, sure." "This place looks great." "So do you, Kay." "I made curtains." "(coffee pouring)" "From that fabric." "Hmm." "Some stuff came for you, some mail." "(faucet running)" "KAY:" "What?" "What is it?" "("Gold" by Iggy Pop plays)" "(music ends)"