Mental Floss' article lists 10 interesting facts about the making of the classic financial film "Wall Street" (1987), starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen in the lead. The film earned Douglas an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and it was fortunate that he didn't decide to leave the project despite director Oliver Stone's method of bringing out the best in Douglas acting-wise:

"As a director, he really tests you," Douglas said. Around two weeks after shooting had started, Stone showed up at the actor's trailer and asked "Are you on drugs? Because you look like you've never acted before in your life." Mortified, Douglas took a look at some footage they'd already shot. Yet, after diligently reviewing it, he could find nothing wrong with his performance. "I came back to Oliver and said … 'I think it's okay," Douglas remembers. "Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Stone replied.

Eventually, Douglas wised up to his boss's overly critical act. "Basically, what he wanted was to ratchet up that much more nastiness in Gordon Gekko," Douglas explained. "And he was willing … for me to hate him for the rest of that movie just to bring it up a little more."

And that famous "Greed is good" quotation by Gordon Gekko was actually inspired from a commencement speech at Berkeley by stock trader Ivan Boesky:

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good" finished just ahead of "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" from The Godfather: Part II. Gekko might as well have been quoting Boesky: At a 1985 commencement address given at UC Berkeley, the trader said "Greed is all right, by the way. I want you to know that. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself."

Newsweek later reported on the speech—and made a telling observation. "The strangest thing, when we come to look back," the magazine argued, "will not just be that Ivan Boesky could say that at a business school graduation, but that it was greeted with laughter and applause."

Featured image: Gordon Gekko via Jake's Old Hollywood World.