GORDON GEKKO, the anti-hero of the Hollywood film Wall Street , played by Michael Douglas, will return to confront the credit crisis, according to Hollywood reports.

As bankers dominate headlines around the world, 20th Century Fox has decided to move forward with the sequel to the story of 1980s excess.

The new film, which will be set during the present credit crisis, will show Gekko being released from prison into a Wall Street that is in meltdown.

The original film featured a young stockbroker called Bud Fox, played by Charlie Sheen, who was desperate to follow the unscrupulous Gekko to fin-ancial success.

The sequel, Money Never Sleeps , is in pre-production and Douglas is considering reprising his role as Gekko. But Sheen and the director, Oliver Stone, will be absent from the sequel, according to the Variety , the entertainment magazine.

The film, which hit theatre screens in 1987, is renowned for its sharp-witted dialogue.

Famously Gekko says "lunch is for wimps" and "greed is good", and the catchphrases have been echoed in offices ever since.

Douglas, who won an Oscar for the role, will decide whether to return based on the script, according to reports.

Douglas, 66, was among a group of celebrities who attended the United Nations General Assembly last month, where he met the Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith.

He was there to push his pet cause - nuclear weapons and the ratification of the decade-old Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

But with Wall Street imploding he did not have much opportunity to discuss it.

Reporters seemed to hold Gekko responsible for the present financial crisis. After repeated questions Douglas answered through gritted teeth: "My name is not Gordon. It's a character I played 20 years ago."

The Bud Fox character will not appear in the sequel.

Allan Loeb, a screenwriter for the US drama 21 , has been hired to write the screenplay.

Loeb, whose credits include the DreamWorks production Things We Lost In The Fire , is a licensed stockbroker who once worked at the Chicago Board of Trade.

Edward Pressman, who produced the original film, will also produce the sequel.

Telegraph, London