Greed Revisited

Greed is good. Or so we thought in the 1980s, thanks in large part to the movie “Wall Street” in which Michael Douglas’s power-suited alter ego Gordon Gekko became an icon for money-hungry financiers the world over. But now that the system that mantra built has collapsed, shouldn’t the film go the way of Douglas’s greasy hair-do? You’d think.

But the New York Times reports that Douglas, Oliver Stone and company are back for a sequel. This time the backdrop will include the events in the banking system – like the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers – that brought the street to its knees last fall. In researching the film, Stone talked to a former biopharma high-roller jailed for securities fraud and went to a cocktail party held by famed doomsday economist Nouriel Roubini. The movie will also more prominently feature banks rather than hedge funds and will even wade into the seemingly un-cinematic world of the Federal Reserve.

A more humble, pessimistic and possibly contrite version of the money grubbing movie we loved so much? Maybe. But we’ll bet good money that Charlie Sheen shows up looking smug in at least one scene.

Photo courtesy Epicharmus, via Flickr.