Let’s give ourselves a little shine here. Something that we educatedly-guessed and have known about ever since TMZ posted a video earlier this summer: Josh Brolin is playing the villain in “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps,” Oliver Stone’s belated sequel to his classic, “greed is good,” capitalist fat cats out of control, ’80s picture.
Javier Bardem dropped out of the role earlier this year and and in July Nikki Finke reconfirmed that he left the project. Brolin was then in talks to take his place.
His role in the film felt like a fait accompli all summer — just like Carey Mulligan’s rumored role which turned out also be true — and sure enough in this week’s weekend edition of the New York Times, Stone confirmed Brolin’s appearance in the picture as the hedge fund antagonist.
Another super interesting gem of info Stone dropped in the interview is the fact that Charlie Sheen’s Bud Fox character will have a cameo in the movie, though its unclear what he’ll do. Obi Wan, spiritual advisor role? 😉 That’s beyond cliche these days, so let’s hope not.
The film stars Shia LaBeouf, Michael Douglas reprising his Gordon Gekko role, Susan Sarandon, Brolin, Mulligan and Frank Langella. “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps,” begins shooting in New York this week and is scheduled for an April 2010 release via 20th Century Fox.
It’s a project that led an interesting life and one that Stone has been working on for awhile now — according to the Times, the script had circulated around for years. In February 2009, the director told MTV that the ship had sailed on the project and he had moved on. “I dropped out. I didn’t want to do another ‘Wall Street’ movie. I think everything I had to say came through.” But clearly the continuing after effects of the economic meltdown of last fall — plus the fact that Fox was interested — sparked Stone back into action and here we are a year later with the cameras ready to roll.
“We sort of started over with the story of a young man who is at the center of it, and how he needs Gordon Gekko’s help to navigate those waters,” Alex Young, co-president of production at Fox said about rejiggering the existing script during last year’s financial crisis.
Stone just finished up a documentary about Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and other South American leaders called, “South Of The Border” and is evidently planning a 10-part series for Showtime titled, “The Secret History of America.”