Josh Brolin Eyeing Oliver Stone's 'Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps'

Most of us loathe TMZ and everything they stand for, but occasionally in their quest to invade the lives of celebrities, they inadvertently dig up some possibly interesting news. In their hounding pursuit of Shia LaBeouf in Hollywood, they found the “Wall Street 2” star at a dinner with Oliver Stone and Josh Brolin. There’s a line of dialogue they excerpt where Stone says, “we’ll give him the script next week,” and presumably, since LaBeouf is already on board, this means they’re talking about Brolin.

Does this mean, that Javier Bardem is possibly out and Brolin is in as the villain in the film? Or is it a separate role. They both have the same look, build and are relatively of the same age. You could easily see either of them playing this role. It’s speculation on our part, but hey, it feels like we’re onto something. Niki Finke basically backed her away from her initial report that said Bardem was set to star in the film. After she “broke” this news, she almost retracted her report saying, Twentieth Century Fox clarified that Bardem was not onboard yet, Oliver Stone hadn’t met with him, and the studio hasn’t negotiated any deal yet. Sounds like much of the talk was premature to begin with. Screenwriter Allan Loeb (“21,” “Things We Lost In The Fire”), should have finished a second draft around the middle of June.

Last time we heard legit reports from the trades, the film, possibly just called, “Money Never Sleeps,” was set to begin principal photography on August 10th with a February 2010 release in mind. Carey Mulligan — the Sundance breakout star of “An Education” — is rumored to be up for the role of Michael Douglas/ Gordon Gekko’s daughter.

As astute reader reminds us that Brolin made much of his fortune on the stock market (it’s apparently allowed him the freedom to be choosy about roles), so he might be well-versed and perfect for the material.

[TMZ]