As usual, I’m a tad conflicted about the news from Variety and other sources that not only has Oliver Stone been confirmed as the director for the previously-reported sequel to 1987’s Wall Street from 20th Century Fox, but there are current negotiations with Shia LaBeouf (also upcoming in Transformers 2) to play the young protege that gets corrupted by Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko.
This time, though, it’s not the choice of cast, Oliver Stone’s recent lackluster effort with W. (according to Box Office Mojo, the damn thing almost didn’t make any money), or the fact that they’re doing yet another freaking sequel that’s got me concerned.
Frankly, I’m a little curious as to exactly how screenwriter Allan Loeb is going to spin exactly who the “bad guy” is because while it’s easy to cast the people who work on Wall Street as being evil and greedy because their entire raison d’être is making tons of money out of nothing, the only reason why Wall Street traders have that reputation to begin with is because other Americans urged them to do so in order to satisfy their own greed instead of making do with what they already have.
As the current economic crisis unfolded, I found myself thinking about a scene near the end of Pretty Woman, a movie from 1990 whose logline can be summarized as thus: My Fair Lady + prostitution. It’s the scene where Richard Gere’s character decides to renounce his evil corporate takeover ways and instead invest his money into making an old man’s shipbuilding company prosperous again.
“We don’t make anything, we don’t build anything!” he rants to Jason Alexander, echoing a query from Julia Roberts’ prostitute character when she asked what he did to earn his mega-bucks. And, apparently, I’m not the only one who thought of that scene and that movie recently in connection with the current recession/depression.
That, in my very humble and untutored opinion, is one of the reasons why we got into this mess, but I highly doubt that a “villain” like our own manufacturing hubris is ever going to make it to Wall Street 2‘s big screen.
Recent Posts: Fox says “Greed is gooder” by fast-tracking Wall Street sequel
Pauly says:
“If you want a friend, go get a dog.”
One of my favorite lines from the original.
I would have loved a crack at the script. Hope old Olie + Gordon Gecko can deliver. Heck, they added a known pot fiend in Shia, so I figured both he and Olie will be toking up massively in between scenes.
Lethal Interjection says:
I’m getting a little sick of Shia TheBeef. He isn’t terrible, but he isn’t great enough to be getting the roles/press that he is.
MC says:
I wonder if the movie “Other People’s Money” is also going to get some new found press because of its own moral?
TPNE 10 says:
Oliver Stone + Wall Street (—again!) = boring
Hey America! –you are now financially underwritten by the most
genocidal regime in world history—across the Pacific!
—That's right! —70 million slaughtered in 'peacetime' is the
latest figure. -Of course you'll never hear or see a peep about
it from Hollywood. -or media. –Why?
BECAUSE —–
Hollywood is on all fours before the direct heirs of the perpetrators
and have major wet dreams about future mass market franchises
for their worthless franchise wampum.
You KNOW it's TRUE———–don't you Ollie?
TPNE 10 says:
Oliver Stone + Wall Street (—again!) = boring
Hey America! –you are now financially underwritten by the most
genocidal regime in world history—across the Pacific!
—That's right! —70 million slaughtered in 'peacetime' is the
latest figure. -Of course you'll never hear or see a peep about
it from Hollywood. -or media. –Why?
BECAUSE —–
Hollywood is on all fours before the direct heirs of the perpetrators
and have major wet dreams about future mass market franchises
for their worthless franchise wampum.
You KNOW it's TRUE———–don't you Ollie?