With the world financial crisis smoke still wafting through much of the western world, it is almost with impeccable timing that a man whom some blame for the igniting of the financial disaster flame will be returning to the big screen; Michael Douglas.
Okay, so really we mean Michael Douglas’s infamous character Gordon Gekko, a lead character whom in perhaps in retrospect, inspired thousands of city bankers around the world to subscribe to his belief that “greed is good”.
Gordon Gekko, from Oliver Stone’s 1987 movie Wall Street, was based upon real life characters that stalked the financial markets at the time, making millions on daring strategies.
Some others believed he was based on a combination of scandalous real-life businessman Ivan Boesky, corporate raider Carl Icahn and junk bond king Michael Milken, who were all facing a growing public backlash for accusations of immortality, of seeing companies as targets not employers, with assets for stripping and not growing.
Stone decided to try and tap into these feelings in Wall Street. Douglas was cast as Gekko, a finance manager without conscience, and Charlie Sheen as a young stock broker who sets out with good intentions but gradually abandons them as he is seduced by Gekko’s beliefs.
Douglas was so convincing and compelling he earned an Oscar for his efforts. However, instead of the film/character turning people off the idea of playing the markets with a black heart, Douglas’s charismatic, powerful performance made him the poster boy for stockbrokers.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said after the banking collapse: “It is perhaps time now to admit that we did not learn the full lessons of the greed-is-good ideology. And today we are still cleaning up the mess of the 21st century children of Gordon Gekko.”
Stone has promised the Gekko character is a reformed man, but with the sequel due for release later this year, many hope Stone and Douglas really do get their message across this time.