Oliver Stone Signs for 'Wall Street 2' and Shia LaBeouf May Star

Considering the economy I am not sure if this is a good idea or not

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Tuesday, April 28th 2009 at 3:11 PM

The Hollywood Reporter brings news Oliver Stone has decided to head back to Wall Street and the Gordon Gekko character he made famous with Michael Douglas back in 1987 with a film tentatively titled Wall Street 2. On top of all this, Shia LaBeouf is in talks for the sequel according to Variety.

The original film starred Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko a financial big wig who mentored Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox, an ambitious rookie stockbroker, all the way to the top only to eventually see him fall.

Stone co-wrote the 1987 original with Stanley Weiser and the two recently worked on W. together. Weiser worked up a treatment for a sequel, but Stone turned it down. The last time we heard about the project it was tentatively titled Money Never Sleeps with Allan Loeb (Things We Lost in the Fire and 21) writing the screenplay. Prior to that Stephen Schiff (True Crime) penned a screenplay back in 2007.

The plot for the film, however, is being kept quiet, but it is known the Gekko character will again loom over a younger upstart looking to navigate the shark-tank world of today's Wall Street. Variety expands slightly on the story saying the sequel will once again involve a young Wall Street trader, and the recent economic meltdown spurred by rampant greed and corruption will fit prominently into the plot.

Of course, I do have details on the Weiser version of the screenplay, which he told me when I interviewed him for W. Here is how that back-and-forth went:

So tell me a little about Wall Street 2.

SW: Here's what happened. I was working on the script and the latter part was set in China and dealing with Chinese money and policing the Chinese. Gekko gets out of jail. It actually opened with Gekko getting out of jail and he's standing by a curb and a limo pulls up and he's next to a black kid, who's a prisoner, and the black kid gets in the limo. The black kid is a rapper and the limo is for the rapper. So he is left standing there on the street alone and no one knows who he is anymore.

When was the film set take place?

SW: In the present. Basically, he had gone to Europe, like this world trader Marc Rich. He had been making deals in Europe and then he decided he wanted to go back to New York and get back in the action. So he does his jail time.

To make a long story short. I wrote the screenplay and Fox put it in turnaround because it was dated. Everything has changed and they're starting with a page one rewrite that deals with the current situation in the markets. So it won't be ready for a year and by that time the economy will have changed again so I wouldn't be too hopeful.

So you are no longer involved?

SW: No, because Oliver turned it down and Oliver won't direct it. I had already worked on a treatment and they didn't go back to me.

There is no telling if any of Weiser's original ideas will carryover into the new film but THR does say Douglas has been interested for some time and has read the latest script. His involvement in the sequel is very likely, if not yet signed and sealed. Considering he felt compelled to show up for Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past (a film that is not as bad as it looks), I see now reason why he would turn this one down.

One thing is for certain, and THR touches on it saying, with its up-to-the-minute placement in the context of the current global financial mess, the current economic situation should provide Stone with an ample palette for his typically provocative cultural commentary.

There is no word on when the film will go into production.