Michael Douglas to Return as Gordon Gekko

Posted on May 5, 2007

Michael Douglas is set to reprise the role that won him an Oscar: playing ethically-challenged financier Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street.

A sequel is in the works, and Douglas is on board for the role. The film will be called Money Never Sleeps.

The title comes from one of Gekko's memorable lines, which also famously included: "Greed is good." The character came to represent the worst corporate excesses of the 1980s. Mr Pressman told the New York Times that Gekko went to jail at the end of the first film - but would not give details of the sequel's plot. Original director Oliver Stone has turned down the opportunity to make the follow-up, the paper said.
Charlie Sheen co-starred in the original, but it was Douglas who won most plaudits, being named best actor at the 1988 Oscars for his role. Gordon Gekko's words of wisdom:
"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit."
"No feelings. You don't win 'em all, you don't love 'em all, you keep on fighting and if you need a friend, get a dog."
"We make the rules - the news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the cost of a paper clip... you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy are you? It's the free market."

And, of course, Gekko's second most famous line was "Lunch? Are you joking? Lunch is for wimps." So, how will they bring back Gekko? A plea deal? He'll have served his time and become a dot com billionaire? That would work. Or maybe he's doing arms deals now. That would also work. He'll need an innocent young man to corrupt, of course. Because there is no better mentor on greed than Gordon Gekko. Charlie Sheen is too old...we're thinking Bradley Cooper...or... Milo Ventimiglia from Heroes. That's it!

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