Douglas thinks Gekko will attract sympathy in second outing

Michael Douglas thinks people will have sympathy for Gordon Gekko in ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’.

The 65-year-old actor – who portrays the famous banker in the original 1987 movie and its new follow up – admits the second instalment explores more about his personality than the first movie did.

He said: “Poor Gekko was stripped of everything - he has no money, he cannot trade, he’s lost his son, his daughter hates him – so I think now we are gonna gain sympathy on a whole other level and it’s just a question of whether he has converted and whether he has found the light. That’s the fun we have in this movie.”

His co-star Carey Mulligan – who plays Gordon’s daughter Winnie in the film – claims Oliver Stone’s directorial talent means people will come away with more of an education in finance while being entertained.

She told BBC News: “What Oliver did with this film is really to my generation and to people younger to me is explain what happened through a big, fun, blockbuster. So it’s not like a lesson in finance but you do kind of come away going: ‘Oh I kind of understand something a bit more than I did.’ ”