( CNN ) -- Gordon Gekko-inspired suspenders may have faded from Wall Street and lunch is n't for wimps anymore , but if there 's one thing that has n't changed in the last two decades it 's this : greed is good . With his new film director Oliver Stone is back to exposing financial chicanery , this time showcasing how complex and unfettered the system has become since his 1987 hit film `` Wall Street . '' What did he find when he returned to the scene after more than two decades ? After years of bank deregulation , Wall Street `` got ridiculous , and I mean it 's insane . It became a financial casino , '' he told CNN . That outrageous environment serves as the backdrop for `` Wall Street 2 : Money Never Sleeps , '' a follow-up film which , amid massive bank bailouts , sweeping financial reform in Washington and investigations into the practices of Wall Street 's leading firms , could n't be more timely . In the movie , Michael Douglas reprises the role of corporate shark Gordon Gekko . Fresh out of prison , he finds himself in a new financial era dominated by complex products and securities . `` Money Never Sleeps , '' which is slated for release in September , is a `` bookend '' rather than a sequel , to the 1987 film , Stone says . Stone , whose father worked on Wall Street as a broker , set out to tell a morality tale about excess in the original film , with Gekko positioned as the bad guy . But judging by the recent financial crisis , not many Wall Streeters took Stone 's message to heart . Instead of being seen as a villain in the 1980s , Gekko became a paragon of success for a generation of traders and business school graduates . Douglas , who won a Best Actor Oscar for the first `` Wall Street , '' said he 's always surprised at the reaction MBA students have to Gekko , the suspender-sporting character out to win at all costs . `` They would come up to me and say , 'Hey Gordon , he 's the man , ' '' he told CNN at Cannes , where the film premiered earlier this month . `` And probably a lot of those guys ... are heading up investing banking companies now , '' he said . In the follow up film , Gekko is looking to get back into the Wall Street game and finds a way through his estranged daughter 's boyfriend , a young investment banker played by Shia LaBeouf . Joining the cast , which includes Susan Sarandon and Josh Brolin , was like `` stepping into a cage of lions , '' LaBeouf said . `` I felt like an underdog coming onto this set . I 'm the 'Transformers , ' kid . It 's just like , it 's daunting . '' LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan , who plays Gekko 's daughter , play a young couple with ideals . ( The couple has also been linked together offscreen . ) But their integrity is tested and `` everybody has double motives , '' Stone said . A director known for offering provocative viewpoints , particularly in political films like `` W , '' `` JFK '' and `` Nixon '' -- his next film , `` South of the Border , '' is about Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez -- Stone initially was n't interested in telling another story about Wall Street . When the producer of the original film and 20th Century Fox made a deal for a follow up film , Stone was n't on board . `` I did n't event want to do a sequel and I turned them down , '' he said . What changed ? The financial meltdown of 2008 , which unleashed the worst crisis since the Great Depression and caused the economy to suffer in Stone 's words , a `` triple bypass heart attack . '' The financial crisis `` was an event of monumental importance socially , economically , for the United States , '' he said . `` It was n't a perfect storm , it was a systematic breakdown that was due because it 's the way the system is run . '' While the director certainly harbors strong feelings about the financial system , he also had his fun with the film . He appears briefly , as does Charlie Sheen , who played Gekko 's protégé Bud Fox in the first film . `` I was having fun , you have to have fun , '' Stone said . Just like the original `` Wall Street , '' `` you have to take this with a grain of salt because it 's so depressing otherwise . '' Mulligan says the film is first and foremost an entertaining story . `` It 's really about people enjoying it as a movie , '' she told CNN . `` Because it 's not just a lesson in finance , it 's love stories and rivalries and a brilliant villain in the middle of it . ''
`` Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps '' is the follow up Oliver Stone 's 1987 hit film `` Wall Street '' Stone discovered a `` ridiculous '' and `` insane '' system in Wall Street when making the sequel . Michael Douglas reprises his role as corporate raider Gordon Gekko . Shia LaBeouf plays the role of a young , ideal investment banker .