Douglas, Stone and SHIA for WALL STREET 2 -- Bleecch

[AndyDursin]

As if the idea wasn't questionable enough -- they've gotten SHIA LABEOUF to star in it.

I think we can all thank Spielberg for bringing us this fraud young star. His appeal continues to escape me.

Oliver Stone in for Fox's 'Wall Street' follow-up
Allan Loeb script pushes long-developing project forward

By Jay A. Fernandez and Borys Kit

April 28, 2009, 03:59 PM ET

Wall Street's all the rage again -- literally. And Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas have decided they have more to say about it.

Stone has just closed a deal with Fox to direct the follow-up to "Wall Street," now tentatively called "Wall Street 2," with Douglas starring. This would provide an unusual amount of continuity since Stone directed and co-wrote, with Stanley Weiser, the original 1987 exploration of the inner workings of the finance sector and its complicated relationship with greed.

The plot line for the new "Wall Street" iteration has not been divulged, but it will pick up with corporate raider Gordon Gekko, the character for which Douglas won a best actor Oscar more than 20 years ago. Gekko's larger-than-life presence will once again loom over a younger upstart looking to navigate the shark-tank world of today's Wall Street.

Shia LaBeouf is in talks with the studio to take on the younger role. Stone and Co. hope to begin production over the summer.

Allan Loeb ("21," "The Baster") was hired to rewrite the long-developing project in the fall and has apparently turned in a script strong enough to corral Stone, who reportedly was very cool to the idea of a sequel. Ed Pressman, who produced the original film, is producing the follow-up as well.

The CAA-repped Stone most recently directed the biopic "W.," and before that helmed the Sept. 11 disaster drama "World Trade Center," which itself was a kind of tragic bookend to "Wall Street's" greed-is-good mantra. The new "Wall Street" project, with its up-to-the-minute placement in the context of the current global financial mess, should provide Stone with an ample palette for his typically provocative cultural commentary.

The Endeavor-repped Douglas last starred in the 2007 comedy "King of California." He co-stars in "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," which opens Friday.

LaBeouf, who is repped by Endeavor and Crosby/Spilo Management, next stars in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," which will be released June 24.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/con ... b4d7de236c

[Monterey Jack]

God, I am SO sick of the incessant need to have some young punk added to an already unneccesary, decades-later sequel just so teenagers who have never even heard of the original will have someone to "relate" to. Even the otherwise enjoyable Live Free Or Die Hard pulled this crap with the "I'm a Mac!" guy. Funny, when I was a kid/teen, all of my heroes were adults. Indiana Jones, Han Solo, James Bond, John McClane...

[AndyDursin]

God, I am SO sick of the incessant need to have some young punk added to an already unneccesary, decades-later sequel just so teenagers who have never even heard of the original will have someone to "relate" to. Even the otherwise enjoyable Live Free Or Die Hard pulled this crap with the "I'm a Mac!" guy. Funny, when I was a kid/teen, all of my heroes were adults. Indiana Jones, Han Solo, James Bond, John McClane...

Yeah, agreed, though I think even the Mac guy Justin Long is more talented than Shia.

Seriously, what is the appeal of Shia? He's Spielberg's pet project, but he has NO CHARISMA on-screen that I can detect. He was terrible in Indiana Jones, he doesn't hold the screen that I've seen in any part, yet he keeps getting one project after another. It's just bizarre.

Putting him together with a geriatric Michael Douglas reeks of INDIANA JONES all over again -- a desperate attempt at getting a "young hot star" to gain audience. Hopefully for them it'll turn out better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, though it wouldn't take much.

[mkaroly]

God, I am SO sick of the incessant need to have some young punk added to an already unneccesary, decades-later sequel just so teenagers who have never even heard of the original will have someone to "relate" to. Even the otherwise enjoyable Live Free Or Die Hard pulled this crap with the "I'm a Mac!" guy. Funny, when I was a kid/teen, all of my heroes were adults. Indiana Jones, Han Solo, James Bond, John McClane...

Yeah, agreed, though I think even the Mac guy Justin Long is more talented than Shia.

Seriously, what is the appeal of Shia? He's Spielberg's pet project, but he has NO CHARISMA on-screen that I can detect. He was terrible in Indiana Jones, he doesn't hold the screen that I've seen in any part, yet he keeps getting one project after another. It's just bizarre.

Putting him together with a geriatric Michael Douglas reeks of INDIANA JONES all over again -- a desperate attempt at getting a "young hot star" to gain audience. Hopefully for them it'll turn out better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, though it wouldn't take much.

They've been looking for a River Phoenix replacement every since he died....or for that matter a James Dean type! Now that Heath Ledger is dead, they need to find that next great young star. It's not Shia though, so they should look elsewhere.

[Eric W.]

Gekko is an interesting enough character that I've wondered what he would be like and where he would be in the whole global economy and all that but this is another sequel that's just way too late for all the obvious reasons. 22 years later? C'mon.

Shia must have serious connections and one HELL of an agent. I don't know how he's getting all these big gigs.

[AndyDursin]

Gekko is an interesting enough character that I've wondered what he would be like and where he would be in the whole global economy and all that but this is another sequel that's just way too late for all the obvious reasons. 22 years later? C'mon.

Shia must have serious connections and one HELL of an agent. I don't know how he's getting all these big gigs.

Spielberg.

[Monterey Jack]

Shia must have serious connections and one HELL of an agent. I don't know how he's getting all these big gigs.

Spielberg.

Seeing as how Shia basically looks like a more handsome version of theJaws-era Spielberg, I can sort of understand why the Beard is living vicariously through him as an on-screen altar ego, but the kid is as appealing as a plateful of limp spaghetti. When your only actor's "trick" is to shout "NonononononononoNONONONONONONONONO!!!!!" over and over whenever something tense happens (seriously, he does this for at least half an hour's worth of screentime in Transformers), how are we supposed to react to that? Are we supposed to "relate" to this charmless punk just because he's panicking every second he's on screen?

[Monterey Jack]

[AndyDursin]

LOL now THAT was funny.

It's funny when I was growing up I didn't get what all the hoopla about River Phoenix was about, but looking back with some perspective it's pretty clear he had a TON of charisma and talent -- especially compared to someone like LaBeouf.

[Monterey Jack]

LOL now THAT was funny.

It's funny when I was growing up I didn't get what all the hoopla about River Phoenix was about, but looking back with some perspective it's pretty clear he had a TON of charisma and talent -- especially compared to someone like LaBeouf.

If Phoenix were still alive today, he'd be pulling down the same kind of roles that Leonardo DiCaprio gets...i.e. Teen Dreamboat Who Survived His Own Hype And Made Good. Once Shia moves into his mid-30's, NO ONE will be giving him work.

[The Pessimist]

Most all of sequel/prequel buzz exists in desperation. The monetary prosperity is nice, but as usual artistic integrity loses.