THE BASIS POINT

Gordon Gekko Returns

 

Greed Is GoodIt seems the Wall Street banner atop The Basis Point (and accompanying link) has done its job helping resurrect the love/hate relationship we all have with Gordon Gekko. Now, in a rush to capitalize on the global financial crisis, there’s a sequel to Wall Street floating around Hollywood:

Film and television studios are rushing to tap America’s fixation with the financial crisis and anger at the Wall Street executives blamed for it. News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox is making a sequel to Wall Street, where Michael Douglas’s Gekko proclaimed, “Greed is good.”

…The crisis has renewed interest in Fox’s original movie. As of Oct. 14, demand for the two-decade-old film at Netflix Inc., the largest U.S. mail-order movie service, had increased 11 percent since Sept. 1, according to Steve Swasey, a company spokesman. The original “Wall Street” ends with police collecting evidence on Gekko for securities violations. The sequel follows the character after he emerges from prison, according to the trade magazine Variety. Douglas may reprise his role as Gekko, the magazine reported.

But the real question is whether it will be some watered down popcorn catharsis for those who lost homes to stated income Option ARMs they knew they ultimately couldn’t afford. Or whether it will really show some depth and address the mortgage crisis and the bigger picture of modern finance from all perspectives. Wall Street co-writer (along with Oliver Stone) Stanley Wiser thinks it will be watered down:

The film is being written by Allan Loeb, whose script for “21” followed a group of college students who win millions by counting cards in Las Vegas. The producer is Edward R. Pressman, who worked on the original, Variety said. Pressman’s company didn’t return calls seeking comment.

The rush to exploit the crisis may lead to films lacking nuance and depth of character, said Stanley Weiser, who co-wrote the original “Wall Street” and wrote “W.,” the film about George W. Bush that opened on Oct. 17. “They’ll make cartoonish villains out of these people,” said Weiser, who said he wrote a script summary for the “Wall Street” sequel, then stopped work when the original’s co-writer and director, Oliver Stone, dropped out.

 

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