Oliver Stone To Direct 'Wall Street' Sequel, Shia LaBeouf In Talks

Back in February, Oliver Stone told MTV News that he would not be coming to save “Wall Street 2,” the sequel to his Zeitgeist-defining drama about corporate greed in the 1980s. Fox had fast-tracked the movie late last year as the economic downturn became severe.

“I dropped out,” he said. “I didn’t want to do another ‘Wall Street’ movie. I think everything I had to stay came through.”

Well, something changed in the last couple months, because Stone has now signed on to direct the picture. Michael Douglas is likely to reprise his role as merciless corporate raider Gordon Gekko and Variety is reporting that Shia LaBeouf is in negotiations to join the film as well.

So what happened? During our earlier conversation, Stone said, “We investigated [a sequel] a while ago, but we couldn’t come up with the right way to go about it. I think there’s an interesting movie to be made in there. I’m just not interested because it’s so complex now. I don’t think people can understand security derivatives. But these types of people [on Wall Street] — essentially it’s the same mentality.”

The Hollywood Reporter indicates that Stone was persuaded to sign on after reading the strong script delivered by Allan Loeb (“21”). Plot specifics have not been revealed, but the story will be set in the present day and will follow Gekko as he takes a young employee (LaBeouf?) under his wing, just as he did with Charlie Sheen’s character in the 1987 original. There is no word yet if Sheen will appear in the sequel.

After last year’s George W. Bush biopic, “W,” Stone had been concentrating on a pair of documentaries. But his decision to take on another feature—especially one as iconic as “Wall Street”—is welcome news in these perilous economic times.

Are you relieved that Stone is directing the sequel? Will LaBeouf will a worthy successor to Sheen? Who else would you like to see cast?

Tags Charlie Sheen, michael douglas, oliver stone, shia labeouf, wall street