Josh Brolin plays powerful billionaire

MANILA, Philippines - Greed becomes legal in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, the most anticipated drama-thriller this year directed by Oliver Stone with a plum cast starring Michael Douglas, Josh Brolin, Shia LaBeouf, Susan Sarandon, Frank Langella, Carey Mulligan and Charlie Sheen.

Twenty-three years after the director’s masterpiece Wall Street, which became a cultural touchstone for the cutthroat and corrupt practices of the world of finance, this is an eye opener that reveals much of what went on before the financial catastrophe that led to the current global recession. Oliver examines how avarice started at the top and trickled down to affect everyone — from shopkeepers to homeowners.

Wall Street 2 is set right before the meltdown of the world’s financial markets. While Michael reprises his Oscar winning role as Gordon Gekko, Josh plays Bretton James, a powerful billionaire and manipulative investment banker. Josh tells more about the movie below:

Is your character at all like Gordon Gekko?

“I’m representing these guys now on Wall Street who are very different. With Gekko, you’re talking about a guy who is worth a couple of hundred million dollars. Now with Bretton James and his generation, you’re talking about guys who are worth billions of dollars. It’s a different mentality. It’s a different world.”

Apart from Oliver Stone, what was appealing about the story?

“I’ve had my own trading business and I’ve traded for the last four years. I’ve done all the research that I needed to do in the Wall Street world. So I was quite prepared. I know because I’ve felt it on a much more amateur level when I was in front of my four screens so I know what that is like, feeling the fear and the greed while you’re watching the charts and the graphs. You are watching every movement and you say: ‘How can I make another buck or make another percent?’ The kids have not eaten and you’ve been up since 5:30 in the morning, and you say, ‘I just need another 15 minutes, the kids can wait.’ I felt that greed when I was trading and that’s one of the reasons I stopped. I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore.”

Can you describe your character? Is he a really unscrupulous guy?

“Well, I always try to find the humanity in everybody. Look, Bretton James got sucked into this universe he is in on Wall Street and he is swimming in the riches of his world. This is Wall Street’s Darth Vader. He will do anything. He’s willing to go to any length in order to survive. His motivation in life is to acquire as much as possible in any way possible.”

Wall Street 2 opens soon from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.