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VIDEOThe Return of Gordon Gekko
Iconic tale of Wall Street power, corruption to get very timely sequel.
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A sequel to the 1987 film Wall Street -- once considered likely but then shelved -- has been given the green light to start filming by Fox (NWS). The sequel, at one time called Money Never Sleeps, is now simply going by the title Wall Street 2.
Michael Douglas -- who played Gekko, the slick, unscrupulous corporate raider -- will reprise his role in the sequel, and director Oliver Stone has also committed. Sadly, Charlie Sheen’s dewy-eyed Bud Fox won't be returning; it can be safely assumed he listened to his father and did something productive with his life. But actor Shia Lebouf is rumored to play another young apprentice to Gekko.
Oliver Stone had pulled out of the movie earlier this year, telling MTV News:
“We couldn’t come up with the right way to go about it. I think there’s an interesting movie to be made in there. I’m just not interested because it’s so complex now. I don’t think people can understand security derivatives. But these types of people [on Wall Street] - essentially it’s the same mentality.”
Stone is right about that. Little has changed in the 22 years since the movie came out, except that Gekko’s philosophy became supercharged to the point where it helped bring down the edifice of Wall Street. Stone made the movie as a precautionary tale, but the opposite came true. The character of Gordon Gekko spawned a generation of Wall Street minions who memorized Gekko’s lines and embodied his ethos.
As for Stone’s earlier reservations about how to cinematically portray what's happening on Wall Street this time around, it's hard to guess what changed his mind. In 1987, in the simple, halcyon age of insider trading, it was easy to depict Wall Street malfeasance. The movie itself was classic 80s fare: montages over synth beats; outlandishly bad fashion and art; clear-cut blue-collar protagonists, and slick, moneyed villains.
But how can Stone make quant funds and mortgage derivatives sexy? Is there really all that much drama in Federal Reserve meetings or the Citigroup (C) board?
The plot line is being kept under wraps, but we know that Gekko will be out of jail. Here's what I think will follow: With Sir Larry Wildman's (the cool British raider who sunk Gekko the first time) blessing, he'll collect enough investors to open his own hedge fund.
Gekko will see he can make a fortune by tapping into Washington’s coffers - all perfectly legal, of course. He then invests in the Treasury Department’s Public Private Investment Program; together, they purchase toxic assets from banks with the leverage guaranteed by the FDIC.
"A lot has changed since I went to jail," Gekko realizes. "The government actually pays you to take risks now?"
Along with his new protégé, Gekko cuts through bureaucratic red tape to make billions - and unemployed bankers will soon get the chance to return to Wall Street via a theater near you.
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