Park City, UT.  Wall Street Chief Risk Officers going Hollywood - Extreme Makeovers.  Used to say they held one of the most thankless and unglamorous jobs on the Street, reports NYTimes' Eric Dash.  They even were derided as Chicken Littles.  In bad times, they get blamed for being too slow to take the punch bowl away at the party.

    Then Hollywood Came Along.   “Margin Call,” starring Demi Moore - who plays a supporting role as the Chief Risk Officer - premiered this week at the Sundance Film Festival.  Works for a troubled investment bank during the early days of the banking crisis in 2008.  The movie will released nationwide in the fall.

In the movie, Ms. Moore grapples with the disastrous consequences of failing to persuade her bosses to pull back on their risky but lucrative mortgage trading business. Not since Erin Callan’s last days at Lehman Brothers has so much style and star power occupied a Wall Street executive suite.

As she stopped to pause for a brief interview on the red carpet before heading into the premiere, Ms. Moore, clad in a shimmering gray dress designed by Victoria Beckham, said that that playing a chief risk officer gave her new appreciation for the often overlooked job.

“You really have to have a hard shell,” she said. “It really is somebody who’s stepping into a position that without a doubt will be the scapegoat, and I think that takes a lot of courage and maybe even perhaps a little bit of being an adrenaline junkie.”

Ms. Moore – who has made a career playing tough female characters in movies like “A Few Good Men,” “Disclosure” and “G.I. Jane” – said that her portrayal of a risk chief was “more restrained.” To prepare for their roles, several members of the cast – including Kevin Spacey, Penn Badgley and Simon Baker — toured the trading floors of several Wall Street banks and interviewed real-life traders about their experiences during the crisis. But Ms. Moore, who signed onto the project last summer just days before filming began, had little time to brush up on risk modeling skills or knowledge of collateralized debt obligations and VAR.

No matter. Risk managers, for their part, seem to be relishing their red carpet moment. After all, the bored and buttoned-up insurance man, has long been a Hollywood archetype, with classic portrayals ranging from the noir thriller “Double Indemnity” to more recent comedies like “Along Came Polly.”

Yet, in the wake of the financial crisis, Wall Street chief risk officers are increasingly playing leading roles. Bankers say the nature of the job has changed the days when risk chiefs they were considered “police officers with pocket protectors.” Today, risk chiefs must be strong managers and communicators, who routinely have the ear of the chief executive and board.

As their stature has grown, so has their ability to command movie star wages. Corporate recruiters and board members say that the demand for talented risk managers has never been higher, resulting in sharp pay increases. Brian Leach, Citigroup’s chief risk officer, was awarded stock and options topping $5.1 million last year, more than any member of the bank’s leadership team, according to an analysis of corporate filings by Equilar, a compensation research firm. Barry L. Zubrow, JPMorgan Chase’s chief risk officer, was handed more than $6.6 million in equity pay.

Ms. Moore’s compensation for playing a chief risk officer in the movie was not disclosed, although it is likely far lower. “Margin Call” was made for less than $4 million, according to one of the producers.

So, who is more overpaid – Wall Street bankers or Hollywood stars? Ms. Moore paused for a second, before flashing a winsome smile. “I would say bankers,” she shot back.   [NYTimes, Eric Dash, 1/27]