Michael Douglas says Charlie Sheen once taped an insulting sign to Sean Young’s back during the making of “Wall Street,” according to Douglas’s new memoir, “One Helluva Ride.” The story, reported this week by Entertainment Weekly and Page Six, is drawing fresh attention to the troubled shoot of the 1987 film.
Douglas, who played Gordon Gekko, writes that Young, who played his on-screen wife, “had a terrible relationship with Charlie and pretty much everyone else besides me.” He says she “caused a lot of problems on set, and many on the crew had an issue with her.” At one point, Douglas writes, Sheen taped a sign to her back with an expletive-filled insult.
What Douglas says happened
Douglas writes that he pulled the sign off when he noticed it. When Young asked what it was, he told her to forget it. The matter might have ended there, he says, but the person who supplied the art for the film had seen the sign and told her what it said. “She had every right to be furious,” Douglas wrote.
Young has told her own version before. In a 2021 interview with The Daily Beast, quoted by Entertainment Weekly, she said Douglas tore the sign off without letting her see it, and that she confronted Sheen the next day about it.
Clash with Oliver Stone
The memoir also describes friction between Young and director Oliver Stone. Douglas writes that during a scene at a horse stable, Stone gave Young’s only line to Daryl Hannah. Young reportedly asked what the point of her being there was if she had no lines, and Stone agreed and fired her on the spot. Page Six reports that Douglas says most of her scenes were cut from the finished film.
Douglas also writes that Hannah had a hard time on the male-dominated set. Page Six reports that he says cinematographer Bobby Richardson urged Stone to recast both actresses, and that Stone later said he wished he had fired both.
Responses so far
Entertainment Weekly said it had reached out to representatives for Young, Sheen and Stone. None of the outlets had published a response from them at the time of writing. The account comes from Douglas’s memoir and from Young’s earlier interview, and Sheen has not been quoted on it.
“Wall Street” gave the culture Gekko’s “greed is good” line and was followed by a 2010 sequel, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” Young, who also appeared in “Blade Runner” and “Dune,” did not return for it. “One Helluva Ride” is on sale now.
Sources: Entertainment Weekly, Page Six. Featured image is an editorial illustration and does not show the people or set involved.
