actuarial references in the movies
Since I have joined the actuarial profession, I have been asked about two movie references regarding actuaries.1
The first (made by Joel and others) was to the protagonist in Fight Club, as portrayed in the movie by Edward Norton. Norton’s character was in fact a “product-recall specialist”, which instigated product recalls if the “costs” (in PR) outweighed the “benefits” (paid to the unsuspecting victims of the defective products). I had thought mistakenly that Norton’s character was an insurance underwriter.
The second one was made today by my stepbrother, and it was to Ben Stiller’s character in the comedy Along Came Polly. This one is dead on, according to Wikipedia.
Here, again from Wikipedia, are some others.
- I am nowhere near to being a real actuary; for that, a long, difficult regimen of exams and professional experience is required. My title is “actuarial analyst”. [↩]
08.10.2008 @ 21:27
Dude. The first rule of the actuarial profession is YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT THE ACTUARIAL PROFESSION! The second rule of the actuarial profession is YOU DON’T MAKE MOVIES ABOUT THE ACTUARIAL PROFESSION!
Or something.
08.10.2008 @ 23:14
Yeah, but what about the actuarial references in Heinlein’s “Year of the Jackpot”? Now THAT’S actuary.
08.10.2008 @ 23:22
And since you’re here, Joel*, I’d like your professional opinion: should that question mark have been inside the quotes? My English major daughter would probably say yes, but to me that makes it look like the title was “Year of the Jackpot?” as if it were in some doubt…
* There’s no sense in asking a wannabe-actuary important questions, they’re a pretty tight-lipped bunch. Bastards know how many 42-year-old guys will die this year, but none of them will tell me if I’ll be among them.
08.11.2008 @ 05:38
I wasn’t the one asked, but I can answer El Borak’s question: The question mark goes inside the quotation marks if it is part of the title to begin with. If it’s the statement that is the question, it stays outside:
“My favorite Bo Diddley song is ‘Who Do You Love?’”
“You mean to tell me you’ve never heard ‘Jailhouse Rock’?”
08.11.2008 @ 14:27
I’m with John B on this.
08.11.2008 @ 14:37
Thanks, both.
01.16.2009 @ 05:24
Interested in your comments on this as I’d previously quickly researched. I am a UK based actuary (Faculty). Some thoughts:
The Apartment (classic Billy Wilder comedy set around insurance company staff and featuring actuaries)
Double Indemnity (film noir with a murder aiming to claim insurance monies)
Along Came Polly (comedy with Ben Stiller as a risk expert who is so risk averse he cleans everything befiore touching it, etc
About Schmidt (oscar winning performance from Jack Nicholson as a retired grumpy actuary)
The Faculty (not really about actuaries but about aliens taking over a college campus!)
There is also a classic “Taggart” UK TV episode about a murderer buying second hand endowment insurance policies and murdering the lives covered.