Unbrace Yourself

Gordon Gekko is back in New York. The iconic eighties corporate raider makes his return in Oliver Stone's Wall Street sequel, Money Never Sleeps, and the man who plays him, Michael Douglas, continued his spirited, public battle with throat cancer by attending the movie's premiere last night at the Ziegfeld Theatre.

Douglas was joined by his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and co-stars Josh Brolin, Frank Langella, Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon, and Shia LaBeouf, who plays Gekko's protégé and potential son-in-law. "I was walking into a lion's den—the cast was outrageous," LaBeouf said. (Of course, in his and Mulligan's case, it was also attractive enough to spark an off-screen romance.) But the film has other buzz-generating assets besides its actors, not least of which is its timely topic: the fierce rivalries and reckless bravado of New York financiers, and the devastating wider consequences of both. In the name of authenticity, the bespoke suits by New York and Savile Row tailors that LaBeouf and company wear in the film were "so expensive that you couldn't believe it," according to costume designer Ellen Mirojnick. Appropriately, the after-party was at Cipriani.

On the carpet, Stone pointed out that the essentials of the business haven't changed that much since the first Wall Street. "The enduring quality is the love of money and greed," he said. LaBeouf, though, had discovered some differences during his preparatory tour of investment banks. "Suspenders are out; socks are out," he reported. That may have affected the way he approached the role—but not, he made clear, his personal style. "Of course, I'm wearing socks!"

—Darrell Hartman