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Theatrical release poster
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The Wolf of Wall Street was the first major American film to be released exclusively through digital distribution.
It was a major commercial success, grossing $407 million worldwide during its theatrical run, becoming Scorsese’s highest-grossing film.
However, the film initially received considerable controversy for its moral ambiguity, centered on the questin: Is the movie harsh enough in its indictment of Belfourt’s corrupt, decadent, and drug-addledlifestyle.
Other criticism concered the lack of sympathy for the victims, as well as its explicit, graphic sexual content, extreme profanity, depiction of hard drug use, and use of animals during production.
The film was initially rated NC-17 by the Motion Picture Association of America, but it was shortly appealed for an R rating after Scorsese made slight changes to the film.
It set a Guinness World Record for the most instances of profanity in a film, outdoing Tarantino with at least 500 uses of the expletive “fuck”
Post Film Scandals
The film’s financing became implicated in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad corruption scandal; the U.S. Department of Justice and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigated Red Granite Pictures, and producer Riza Aziz was arrested in 2019. He was discharged in May 2020 on a 1,000,000 Malaysian ringgit (US$240,000) bail.
My Oscar Book:
Oscar Context:
It was nominated for 5 Oscar awards at the 86th Academy ceremony:
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (for DiCaprio) and Best Supporting Actor (for Hill).
It did not win in any category.
The Best Picture that year went to anti-slavery drama, “12 Years a Slave.”
Critical Status:
The film received positive reviews from critics and appeared on several “best of the year” lists.
The movie features perfomances by three younger and promimemt diretors: Bob Reiner (as Belfort’s foul-mouthed father; Spike Jonze; and Jon Favreau.
Cast
Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort
Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff
Margot Robbie as Naomi Lapaglia
Matthew McConaughey as Mark Hanna
Kyle Chandler as FBI Agent Patrick Denham
Rob Reiner as Max Belfort
Jon Bernthal as Brad Bodnick
Jon Favreau as Manny Riskin
Jean Dujardin as Jean-Jacques Saurel
Joanna Lumley as Aunt Emma
Cristin Milioti as Teresa Petrillo
Christine Ebersole as Leah Belfort
Shea Whigham as Captain Ted Beecham
Katarina Čas as Chantalle
P. J. Byrne as Nicky Koskoff (“Rugrat”)
Kenneth Choi as Chester Ming
Brian Sacca as Robbie Feinberg (“Pinhead”)
Henry Zebrowski as Alden Kupferberg (“Sea Otter”)
Ethan Suplee as Toby Welch
Sandra Nelson as Aliyah Farran (Forbes Reporter)
Aya Cash as Janet
In addition, cameos and smaller roles include Bo Dietl as himself, the real Jordan Belfort as the Auckland Straight Line host, Stephanie Kurtzuba as Kimmie Belzer, Thomas Middleditch as a Stratton broker whose goldfish is eaten by Donnie for slacking off, Jake Hoffman as Steve Madden, Fran Lebowitz as The Honorary Samantha Stogel, Edward Herrmann as the voiceover in the Stratton Oakmont commercial, and uncredited Spike Jonze as Dwayne, the head of the Long Island brokerage firm who introduces Belfort to the world of penny stocks.
Credits:
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Screenplay by Terence Winter, based on “The Wolf of Wall Street” by Jordan Belfort
Produced by Scorsese, DiCaprio, Riza Aziz, Joey McFarland,Emma Tillinger Koskoff
Cinematography Rodrigo Prieto
Edited by Thelma Schoonmaker
Production
companies
Red Granite Pictures
Sikelia Productions
Appian Way Productions
EMJAG Productions
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates: Dec 17, 2013 (Ziegfeld Theatre); Dec 25, 2013 (US)
Running time: 180 minutes
Budget $100 million
Box office $407 million
