Behind‑the‑scenes memoir of Oliver Stone’s planned Wall Street sequel

DEK: In the upcoming sequel to Oliver Stone’s groundbreaking film, Gordon Gekko gets out of jail and back to business. Peggy Siegal takes us behind the scenes where she got herself on camera along with a few of her famous friends. Nice work if you can get it. In 1987, right after director Oliver Stone won the Academy Award for "Platoon,” he immediately turned to a domestic arena and began working on "Wall Street" in New York City where his father had been a stockbroker. Although the film was widely seen as a scathing critique of the culture of Wall Street, Stone has said that part of the film is a defense of capitalism, his father's vision of finance (as seen through the Hal Holbrook character) and an homage to his father. At the time Oliver was also fascinated with the connection between the psyche of Latino Miami drug dealers from his earlier "Scarface" script and the American-born 28- to 35-year-old, white collar stockbrokers. Both groups had an animalistic need to obtain big and fast money. They shared an obsession with corruption and greed. Oliver sent his actors to Bear Stearns for research, including then-newcomer Charlie Sheen, who played Bud Fox, a kid from nowhere. When he learns to cold call, and lands one big client, Gordon Gekko, Fox is thrust into the fast lane with a rock star financial mentor who teaches him corruption. Oliver needed an old-fashioned villain to create drama, and he cast Michael Douglas as Gekko against type. Michael was not known as a heavy at the time, but as a charming, handsome, sensitive leading man. Oliver also saw the anger, confidence, salesmanship and style that Michael brought to the role. Michael's Gekko looked a bit like Laker's coach Pat Riley with his slicked back hair and well-cut suits, and it became Michael’s most important role, winning him the Academy Award for the villain no one could ever forget. When Gekko delivers his speech, "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works,” cinematic history was made. “Wall Street” was set in 1985, a time before ten financial news networks broadcasting 24/7 existed. The entire financial services industry was largely unknown and Oliver Stone nailed it. Four years ago, Wall Street’s producer Ed Pressman decided it was time for a sequel and met with Fox Film Entertainment co- chairmen Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos. Michael Douglas was immediately on-board pending script approval. Steven Schiff wrote the first script before the global economic crash of 2008 rendered it obsolete. Alan Loeb was brought in for a rewrite. Pressman asked me to meet Loeb at the Carlyle Hotel to explain the social rhythms of New York’s financial high society. Whereas Gekko’s character was modeled after ‘70s junk bond kings (Michael Milken) and ‘80s mergers and acquisitions killers (Henry Kravis), Loeb bases the new villain on hedge fund billionaires like John Paulson and Mike Novogratz, geniuses who have created stratospheric wealth beyond Gordon Gekko’s wildest dreams. When Oliver Stone agreed to direct, he rewrote a portion of the script to focus on bankers as well as hedge funders, taking no screen credit. This past September, Oliver yelled, "action" as Gordon Gekko, with long grey hair, comes back to life as he emerges from a lengthy prison stint shot outside of Sing Sing in Ossining, New York. Gekko is desperate to redefine himself in a different era. The New York Post runs a full-page photo of Gekko and New Yorkers immediately become obsessed with the filming of Wall Street 2. A week into shooting, a glorious fall day. Ed Pressman invites me on the set at the Central Park Zoo. Oliver designs an elaborate tracking shot around the seal pool where Gekko, fresh from jail, walks and talks to Jake Moore, a young idealistic investment banker played by Shia LaBoeuf. They discuss Gekko’s daughter Winnie, Moore’s fiancée, played by Carrie Mulligan, who is also having an off-screen romance with LaBoeuf. Oliver played Cupid. Moore invites Gekko to the Alzheimer's Ball at the Metropolitan Museum HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021242