Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps


Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a 2010 American drama film directed by Oliver Stone, a sequel to Wall Street. It stars Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon and Eli Wallach.
The film takes place in New York City, 23 years after the original, and revolves around the 2008 financial crisis. Its plot centers on a supposedly reformed Gordon Gekko, played by Douglas, and follows his attempts to repair his relationship with his daughter Winnie, with the help of her fiancé, Jacob Moore.
Principal photography took place in New York City between September and November 2009. After having its release date moved twice, Money Never Sleeps was released theatrically worldwide on September 24, 2010, by 20th Century Fox. Prior to its official release, many journalists connected to the financial industry were reportedly shown advance screenings of the film.
Despite opening to positive reception at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Money Never Sleeps received mixed reviews from critics. Though failing to meet its critical expectations, the film was successful at the box office, topping the United States's ranking during its opening weekend, and earning a worldwide total of $134 million in ticket sales, and more than $15 million on DVD.

Plot

In 2001, former corporate raider Gordon Gekko is released from prison after serving time for insider trading and securities fraud.
By 2008, Gekko has begun promoting his new book Is Greed Good?, warning about a possible 2008 financial crisis. His estranged daughter, Winnie, runs a small, non-profit news website and is dating Jacob "Jake" Moore, a top prop trader at Keller Zabel Investments. Jake, a protégé of KZI managing director Louis Zabel, has been raising money for Dr. Masters and his fusion research project, which might create abundant clean energy. Jake is also financially assisting his mother, Sylvia, who has quit nursing to speculate in residential real estate.
In the early stages of the downturn predicted by Gekko, KZI's stock loses more than half its value. Louis Zabel tries to arrange a bailout for KZI from other Wall Street banks, but is blocked by Bretton James, head of rival firm Churchill Schwartz, which KZI had refused to help during the dot-com bubble years earlier. Despondent, Zabel kills himself by jumping in front of a subway train. A distraught Jake proposes marriage to Winnie, who accepts.
Jake attends a lecture given by Gekko and introduces himself. Gekko tells him that KZI's collapse started when James spread rumors of KZI having toxic debt. Jake and Gekko arrange a trade: Jake will try to reconcile Winnie's and Gekko's relationship, and Gekko will gather information to destroy James for his actions against KZI and for providing evidence against Gekko years ago. In revenge, Jake illegally manipulates the market by spreading rumors about the nationalization of an oil field in Equatorial Guinea which Church has invested in. The company loses $120 million, but James gives Jake a job, impressed by his initiative. Jake further impresses James when he convinces Chinese investors to invest in the fusion project through Church.
Jake attends a $10,000-a-seat fundraiser with Winnie, buying a seat for Gekko to facilitate a "chance" meeting. Gekko confronts James about what he did to him and to KZI. James replies that no one cares what Gekko thinks anymore. Gekko also bumps into Bud Fox, who, following his release from jail, turned Bluestar Airlines into a huge success, sold it for millions, and retired to play golf and become a philanthropist. Gekko follows Winnie outside, where she explains why she blames him for everything that went wrong, stemming from his affairs and her brother Rudy's suicide. Gekko claims he worked, from prison, to get the best therapists and even paid off a drug dealer to stop selling to Rudy, who died from an overdose. Winnie forgives him.
As the 2008 financial crisis accelerates, James and Church's chairman Julius Steinhardt advise federal regulators to buy their multi-billion-dollar subprime loans. As the real estate market collapses, Jake helps out Sylvia with his own money. Shortly after Winnie informs Jake that she is expecting their first child, Jake learns that James is diverting the Chinese investment into underperforming solar panels, which are not a threat to his large position in fossil fuels. Gekko soon informs Jake that James had secretly made huge profits betting against subprime loans yet still accepted the fed's massive bailout.
Gekko proposes using a $100 million trust account, which he hid in Switzerland for Winnie in the 1980s, to fund the fusion research. She signs the money over to Jake, not knowing he would entrust it to Gekko to complete the investment. When Gekko betrays them by leaving the country with the money, Winnie breaks up with Jake. Gekko sets up a hugely successful investment company in London, capitalized by the $100 million. Jake visits him to propose a new trade: Winnie gets her money back, and Gekko can participate in his grandchild's life. Gekko refuses.
Jake pieces together all the details of James's dealings, from KZI's collapse through to the unnecessary government bailout of Church. He gives the information to Winnie, telling her that revealing it will bring her website publicity and credibility. When Winnie runs the story, James finds himself under intense government scrutiny and is fired by his company's board, who then turn to Gekko's firm for a partnership, which recently posted a $1.1 billion return on investment.
Late one night, when Jake fails to make amends with Winnie, Gekko appears, apologizes and tells them that he has anonymously deposited $100 million into the fusion research account, convincing her to give both him and Jake another chance. One year later, Gekko, Sylvia, and other family and friends attend the first birthday party of Louis, Jake and Winnie's son.

Cast

reprises his role as Gordon Gekko from Wall Street, which won him an Academy Award for Best Actor. Gekko has recently been released from prison and, after a failed attempt to warn business leaders of the imminent economic downturn, he decides to try to rebuild a relationship with his estranged daughter Winnie.
Shia LaBeouf portrays Jacob "Jake" Moore, an ambitious, young proprietary trader who works for Keller Zabel Investments, and is in a relationship with Winnie Gekko. LaBeouf's role in the film has been said to be a role similar to that of Charlie Sheen's in the original. The young actor said he was able to relate to his character's background and found similarities in their motivations. Initially the actor was intimidated by the idea of working on a film that was going to stretch his dramatic abilities and came to the film set with a different approach, which was that if he disappointed his fans twice, his career was finished after making two recently panned sequels.
LaBeouf stated that, during his first meeting with Stone, the director was "really expedient about killing any ego or conceit on my part", saying not to worry because Tom Cruise "was not an actor" when he first worked with him either, which LaBeouf considered "a knife to heart". LaBeouf said that he did not know what a credit derivative is or what a CP, LP, or LVC were, commenting "You gotta know ticker names." To prepare for the film he traded with different firms, playing with up to $1 million, and became so interested in trading that he began studying for the Series 7 Exam.
Josh Brolin plays Bretton James, head of the Churchill Schwartz investment bank, whom Jacob blames for the death of his mentor. Bretton has been described as being a villain. Bretton is presented as a "new style" version of Gekko in the film. Javier Bardem was in final talks to play the character; in July 2009 it was confirmed that he had turned down the project in favor of a film adaptation of the book Eat, Pray, Love, with Julia Roberts. The actor, acknowledging that every character had both good and bad in them, viewed Bretton as being on a "higher level," adding that he liked the ambition his character had and that he was an opportunist.
Carey Mulligan was cast as Winnie Gekko, Gordon's estranged daughter and Jacob's fiancée. Winnie has not spoken to her father since his imprisonment; she blames Gordon for the suicide of her drugged-out brother, Rudy. The character has been said to be the "moral center of the story" and described as being liberal, and to some extent passive. Mulligan is British and had to speak with an American accent for her role. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps was her first major studio film. When she first met Stone for the role she explained that she did not want her character to be a "token girlfriend"; both agreed to work to make sure that would not happen. During the same encounter Stone learned that she had short hair, and he initially discussed having her wear a wig, but Mulligan said she did not feel like herself when wearing the hairpiece. Stone trusted her and made an exception. According to Mulligan, Stone cast her in the Wall Street sequel based on her performance in An Education.
Frank Langella was cast as Louis Zabel. His death "ultimately leads the characters to discover the shady practices" of James's bank. Susan Sarandon portrays Sylvia Moore, Jacob's real-estate agent mother who is just as consumed by greed as Gekko is, but in a different sense. Audrey, a "tough, intelligent trader in the Wall Street trenches", is portrayed by Vanessa Ferlito. John Buffalo Mailer plays Jacob's Long Island financier friend, Robby and Eli Wallach plays the part of Jules Steinhardt, a Churchill Schwartz top executive and Wall Street patriarch who considers the current economic climate to be like the 1929 stock market crash. Edward R. Pressman deemed the actor's role as the "crier of doom," who, "reveals just how much more devastating things can be today." Charlie Sheen reprised his role of Bud Fox, Gekko's former protégé, whom he meets briefly at a cocktail party. Sylvia Miles reprised her role as real estate agent Dolores from the first film.
Television actress Natalie Morales, economist Nouriel Roubini, journalist and producer Graydon Carter, financier Warren Buffett and director Stone's mother Jacqueline have minor roles in the film. Jim Cramer also makes a brief appearance after Stone cast him because he was a former hedge fund manager. Stone, who had a cameo in the first film, plays a similarly brief role in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. He wanted to give the young LaBeouf "some older connections" that would "give it weight" in the movie. Donald Trump and Julianne Michelle played minor parts, but Trump's scene was cut from the final version. Stone said the scene was too "distracting" for the ending. Program host Neil Cavuto appears in the sequel for several seconds. A longer scene that involved him was cut; a representative for Stone clarified that his decision was an aesthetic, not political, choice. Roger Hendricks Simon, a director-actor, landed a part acting as a thinly veiled version of former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg. Like Trump's part, his scenes were not included but are in the film's DVD version.