Thaler's work even earned him a glamorous foray into the movie business when he made a cameo appearance, alongside Christian Bale, Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling, in the 2015 movie 'The Big Short' about the credit and housing bubble collapse that led to the 2008 global financial crisis. In his cameo, he appeared in a scene alongside pop star Selena Gomez to explain the 'hot hand fallacy,' in which people think whatever's happening now is going to continue to happen into the future. The movie grossing $10,531,026 (USA) (23 December 2015) over the opening weekend and grossing more than $70,259,870 in the USA. This was the second film based on a Michael Lewis book that Brad Pitt produced and appeared in. The first was Moneyball (2011).