Michael Douglas has revealed that he was stunned by the reaction his Wall Street character Gordon Gekko received.
Gekko brought Douglas a Best Actor Oscar back in 1987 and he reprises the role later this year in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
And despite being the villain of both movies Douglas admits that he is shocked that people have taken to him.
Speaking to reporters at Cannes Film Festival the actor said: "I think Oliver and I were both pretty stunned after the first one how they perceived Gekko.
"An insider trader - a guy who destroyed companies, who destroyed people - was a very, very well-written villain.
"People are attracted to villains, but we just never anticipated that all these MBAs in business school would be ranting and raving that this was the person they wanted to be.
"And yet 22 years later I imagine that a lot of those MBA students are heading up these investment banking companies now. The greed has not stopped. It's got legal."
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps sees filmmaker Oliver Stone return to the director's chair and Douglas is joined by Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin and Carey Mulligan.
The release of the movie has been pushed back to September but it premiered at Cannes Film Festival last week.
Tagged in Michael Douglas