“It’s all about bucks, kid. The rest is conversation.”
The film’s working title was “Greed”. Before casting Michael Douglas to play Gordon Gekko, director Oliver Stone’s first two choices were Richard Gere and Warren Beatty. Tom Cruise wanted the part of Bud Fox, but Stone had already agreed to cast Charlie Sheen. Stone later promised Cruise the lead in Born on the Fourth of July (1989). Stone gave Charlie Sheen the choice of casting either Jack Lemmon or Martin Sheen to play Carl Fox, his character’s father. (he chose his dad.) Hal Holbrook’s fatherly character, Lou, is named for Oliver Stone’s real father, Louis Stone who had been a Wall Street stockbroker and died just before the film’s release. Sir Larry Wildman, the British takeover artist played by Terence Stamp, is widely believed to be modeled after Sir Gordon White of Hanson PLC– a company that did nothing but acquisitions, liquidations and wholesale deconstruction of companies. Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” speech had been inspired by a similar speech given by Ivan Boesky at the University of California’s commencement ceremony in 1986. Boesky was a Wall Street arbitrageur who paid a $100 million penalty to the SEC to settle insider trading charges later that same year. In his speech, Boesky said “Greed is all right, by the way. I want you to know that. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.” As of 2007, this is the only movie to win both an Oscar for Best Actor: Michael Douglas, and a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress: Daryl Hannah. Wall Street grossed $43.8 million in North America.
