Trivia / Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

• California Doubling: The snowy, winter street scene supposedly depicting Zürich is actually Prague. This same exact scene has been used in other movies.
• Deleted Role: Donald Trump had a cameo. According to Oliver Stone, Trump's scene with Michael Douglas was shot in a day and it took nine takes from different perspectives. It didn't make it into the final version because the film was too long, but it can be seen in the Deleted Scenes of the Blu-Ray.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Josh Brolin lost 30 pounds of weight for his role, and Shia LaBeouf did a lot of research on stock trading and even got a broker's license.
• Fake American: Carey Mulligan (English) as Winnie Gekko.
• Playing Against Type: Shia LaBeouf's attempt to get out of his Typecasting was at first received by thundering cries of "WTF???". When the movie got into theaters, most critics seem to agree that he gave an overall solid performance.
• Reality Subtext: In 2004, Michael Douglas' half-brother Eric died of a drug overdose. Shortly before filming began, Douglas's son Cameron was sent to prison on drug-dealing charges, the latest installment in his long battle with addiction. Gekko's emotions as he recalls his own ultimately futile efforts to prevent his son's overdose are thus very real for Douglas.
• Real-Life Relative: Oliver Stone's son Sean plays a broker.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Oliver Stone originally wanted Carey Mulligan to have long hair in the film and was somewhat dismayed to discover that she had cropped hair in real life. He wanted her to wear a wig but she refused, saying that it would affect her performance. Eventually, she persuaded him to let her play the part with short hair.
• Role Reprise: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, and Sylvia Miles reprise their roles from the first film and Oliver Stone again makes a cameo.
• Romance on the Set: During filming, Carey Mulligan and Shia LaBeouf began dating.
• Sequel Gap: It was released in 2010, 23 years after the original.
• Technology Marches On:
  • There's a gag when Gordon, leaving prison, is given his old (formerly extravagant and top-of-the-line) brick-sized cell phone back (it's one of the trailers for the movie).
  • When one considers that 'Wall Street' itself no longer exists, as it has traditionally been understood. Trading is no longer the province of a few stock brokers in New York City, but is considerably decentralized and personal, thanks to the Internet. So, Finance Marches On, perhaps.
  • As he's leaving prison, Gordon sees an inmate be greeted by his family in a limousine. What was once an icon of status and wealth is now accessible to the common man.
• Throw It In!: The repeated whistling that Eli Wallach did was his own idea because he kept forgetting his line.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Javier Bardem was the studio's favorite for Bretton James. However, he turned the role down to star in Biutiful. Simon Baker, Aaron Eckhart, James Franco and Edward Norton were also considered.
  • Cate Blanchett and Naomi Watts were considered for Sylvia Moore.
  • Aaron Sorkin reportedly turned down the chance to work on the screenplay.
• Working Title: The title was originally Money Never Sleeps. When Oliver Stone signed on to direct, he added Wall Street 2 to the title. Later the numeral was dropped, since Stone wanted the film to be seen as both a sequel and a stand alone story.

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