No doubt emboldened by the runaway critical/commercial success of TEXASVILLE, and THE TWO JAKES, 20th Century Fox has convinced Oliver Stone to take the reigns of WALL STREET 2 - which was once upon a time known as WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS. A lot has changed since the project was announced two years ago: the first screenwriter hired, Stephen Schiff (former staff writer for THE NEW YORKER who delivered a lovely adaptation of LOLITA for Adrian Lyne), is out, and Allan Loeb (wildly overrated agency darling who's responsible for THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE and the godawful 21) is in. And if you think you're excited now, wait until you hear that Aaron Sorkin and Peter Morgan both passed on the honor of continuing the saga of Gordon Gekko. Everyone wants in on this fucker.
I don't mean to be negative, but I can't think of anything less interesting than Stone and Loeb teeing off on hedge fund managers for two hours - and, according to this worthwhile script preview from Latino Review, that's pretty much what WALL STREET 2 is. The difference this time is that Gekko is the tragic hero who, after a fourteen-year stretch in prison, agrees to mentor a revenge-seeking trader (Shia LaBeouf) in exchange for the opportunity to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Hopefully, this revenge entails cornering the Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice (FCOJ) market.
Gekko is one of the most iconic villains of 1980s cinema. In softening him up (and incorporating the daughter element), I can't help but think they're attempting to recapture the crushing obviousness of THE GODFATHER PART III. Then again, the first WALL STREET was as subtle as a kick in the nuts, so perhaps they're just being true to the source material.
