The New York Times has published a new article and video interview with Oliver Stone talking about Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps in which, among many other details, he confirms Josh Brolin will play the arch villain Bretton James, playing the head of a fictional investment bank and also word that Charlie Sheen will be making a cameo appearance as Bud Fox. Martin Sheen, however, is not currently expected to return.
Filming is set to begin on the picture this week in New York for an April 23, 2010 release with a script from Allan Loeb with Alex Young, co-president of production at 20th Century Fox, telling the Times, “We sort of started over with the story of a young man who is at the center of it, and how he needs Gordon Gekko’s help to navigate those waters.”
Talk of a Wall Street sequel has been around forever, but Stone says, “We wouldn’t have done this movie in 2006, things were too loose. I didn’t want to glorify pigs.”
Stone reflects back on the message of the 1987 original and says in the video interview, which you can watch right here, “I can’t tell you how many young people have come up to me in these years and said, ‘I went to Wall Street because of that movie.'” He continued, “I think the movie was misunderstood because it was about a horrible thing that was going on, about how people would worship money at all costs.”
The new film has Michael Douglas returning as Gordon Gekko following a prison stint due to what went on in the original, and he is looking for a way to “redefine himself, redefine his character,” Stone said. “He’s looking for that second chance.”
The Times article says, as part of research for the film, Douglas and Stone had a dinner meeting with Samuel D. Waksal, the founder of the biopharmaceutical company ImClone Systems, who spent five years in federal prison for securities fraud. On top of that, Shia LaBeouf, who stars as a young Wall Street broker in the film, along with Stone, discussed the financial collapse with hedge fund managers. Stone also had conversations with Jim Chanos, a prominent hedge fund manager who urged him to focus less on hedge funds and more on the banking system.
You can read the complete article right here and the video is also available on the same page.
Wall Street 2 also stars Frank Langella as Jake’s mentor, Carey Mulligan as Jake’s fiancé and Gekko’s daughter, Susan Sarandon as Jake’s mother and Vanessa Ferlito as Audrey, a tough, intelligent trader in the Wall Street trenches.
