December 03, 2019
'The Wolf of Wall Street'
The Ringer's Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, and Ryen Russillo see a pay stub for $72,000 and quit their jobs to rewatch Martin Scorsese's box office and critical smash hit 'The Wolf of Wall Street,' starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, and Margot Robbie.
Cast
Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort
Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff
Margot Robbie as Naomi Lapaglia
Matthew McConaughey as Mark Hanna
Kyle Chandler as Agent Patrick Denham
Jon Bernthal as Brad Bodnick
Rob Reiner as Max Belfort
Jon Favreau as Manny Riskin
Joanna Lumley as Aunt Emma
Cristin Milioti as Teresa Petrillo
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Terence Winter
Cinematography by: Rodrigo Prieto
Notes
- First episode with all three of Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Ryen Russillo together.
- Budget: $100 million. Box office: $392 million – Scorsese's biggest hit ever.
- 5 Oscar nominations (Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor for DiCaprio, Supporting Actor for Jonah Hill), zero wins.
- Released Christmas Day 2013. 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, C CinemaScore.
- Set a Guinness World Record for most F-words in a motion picture: 506 (averaging 2.81 per minute), surpassing Casino's 422.
- Jonah Hill took $60,000 to be in the movie – flew to see DiCaprio and told him 'if you cast somebody else, I'm going to kill him'.
- The film was alleged to have been financed by money stolen from the Malaysian 1MDB sovereign wealth fund – producer Riza Aziz's company Red Granite Pictures paid $60 million to settle the lawsuit.
- Between 400-450 VFX shots – very uncommon for Scorsese. The film was shot digitally, a first for him (Hugo notwithstanding).
- Margot Robbie's audition: slapped DiCaprio instead of kissing him. Scorsese cast her on the spot.
- McConaughey's chest-beating scene was improvised – it's actually his pre-acting warm-up routine. DiCaprio encouraged them to include it and later said it 'set the tone for the rest of the film'.
- Steven Spielberg spent a day on set during the Steve Madden speech scene and essentially co-directed it, suggesting camera angles and giving advice to actors.
- Jordan Belfort coached DiCaprio on Quaalude behavior and his drug-induced confrontation style.
- Wesley Morris described the film as 'Goodfellas built around Belfort's memoir'.
- Jon Favreau quote about the film: 'Two kinds of stories – aspirational and cautionary tales. This is a cautionary tale about aspiration'.
Categories
Most re-watchable scene
- McConaughey lunch scene (Sean and Russillo's pick) – the chest-beating, 'feed the geese,' the whole thing. 'It's the clear runaway.' Sean watched it 15 times in the week before recording.
- Lemon Quaaludes sequence – the 'cerebral palsy phase' country club scene with the phone booth, DiCaprio crawling to the Lamborghini, Jonah Hill choking.
- 'I'm not leaving' speech – Jordan's defiant Stratton Oakmont farewell that becomes a reversal.
- The Naomi yacht capsizing – 'arguably the best scene,' and also true. 'I will not die sober'.
- Meeting Margot Robbie / the Venice water fight – 'who are you, a fucking owl?' DiCaprio flexing and shimmying while she throws water in his face.
- Steve Madden IPO speech – Spielberg co-directed this scene.
- The Aerotyne cold call and the Stratton Oakmont sales script montage – 'I ask that you judge me not on my winners'.
What aged the best?
- The theme of wealth as an incurable pox that destroys life from inside and out (Sean's pick).
- Margot Robbie's career – the discovery of her in this film and where she's gone since.
- The unreliable narrator/talking to camera technique – 'in a lot of movies it's a crutch, in this movie it's essential'.
- The aside where Kyle Chandler rides the subway after catching Belfort and realizes his life still kind of sucks – 'not having wealth is also unacceptable'.
- The asides that skip over financial explanations – 'you don't give a shit about this' – prefiguring The Big Short's approach.
What aged the worst?
- The bad takes that the movie was a celebration of wealth – 'very limited understanding of art' (Sean).
- Possibly the runtime at 3 hours, though Chris argues the excess demands maximalist length and Thelma Schoonmaker said the performances were too good to cut.
Casting what-ifs
- Brad Pitt and Paramount lost a bidding war against DiCaprio and Warner Brothers for Belfort's memoir rights in 2007. Belfort made $1 million. Pitt would have been darker but DiCaprio has a gear Pitt may not – 'banging the microphone against his head, losing his mind'.
- Chris Evans and Joseph Gordon-Levitt auditioned – likely for Donnie.
- Blake Lively, Rosie Huntington-Whitley, Teresa Palmer, Amber Heard, and Olivia Wilde all considered/auditioned for Naomi. Wilde was deemed 'too old' despite DiCaprio being 10 years older. Robbie being an unknown was key.
- Julie Andrews was considered for Aunt Emma before Joanna Lumley – was convalescing from a titanium ankle implant.
- Ridley Scott was wanted to direct – would have been 40 minutes shorter, less chaotic, 'longer driving scenes'.
Best "heat check" performance
- Matthew McConaughey – one scene, maybe the most iconic in the entire movie. Improvised chest-beating warm-up. 'Shouldn't even be eligible – it's the clear runaway'.
- Rob Reiner as Max Belfort – 'The Equalizer,' the British accent on the phone, the sides-cure-cancer argument with Jonah Hill. 'He just screams the entire time'.
- Jon Bernthal as Brad – the Quaalude King of Bayside, the diner scene, 'supply and demand,' 'tell your sister I was asking about her.' Perfect casting as the crew's one animal.
- Joanna Lumley as Aunt Emma – 'such a great fucked up scene'.
- Cristin Milioti as Teresa – 'the most likable character in the entire movie, probably the only innocent person'.
- Spike Jonze as Dwayne – blotchy skin, bad mustache, 'if you sell $10,000 worth of stock, I'll blow you.' Great in Three Kings, 'Moneyball', and this.
- Jean Dujardin as Jean-Jacques Saurel – 'he's just in a different movie.' Gets Sean's overacting award.
Over-acting award
- Rob Reiner – 'just yells for 5 minutes.' 'The Equalizer', the Benihana rant, the sides argument. Not a critique per se.
- Jean Dujardin – the Best Actor winner from The Artist 'on that Benigni run where we were just giving Europeans the best actor'.
- Kimmy Belzer (Stephanie Kurtzuba) – 'take it down 1,000'.
Best "that guy"
- Bo Dietl as himself – NYPD legend, Imus regular, conservative pundit. Also in '25th Hour' and The Irishman.
- Ethan Suplee – Russillo's pick. Kevin Smith repertory player.
- PJ Byrne as Rugrat – Sean doesn't like him, Chris does.
- Kenneth Choi as Chester Ming – 'he's great'.
- Shea Whigham as Captain Ted Beecham – 'batten down the hatch, little chop out there'.
- Thomas Middleditch as the Stratton broker with the fishbowl – very beginning of Silicon Valley era.
- Fran Lebowitz as the judge.
- The real Jordan Belfort introducing Jordan Belfort at the end – 'it just seems a little choppy'.
Half-assed (internet) research
- The film was financed by money stolen from the Malaysian 1MDB fund – the Billion Dollar Whale story. Jho Low befriended DiCaprio, bought Brando's Oscar and sent it to him as a gift. Red Granite Pictures paid $60 million to settle.
- McConaughey's chest beating was improvised – it's his actual pre-acting warm-up. DiCaprio looked at Scorsese for approval during filming; that brief shot made the final cut.
- Set the Guinness record for F-words: 506 times, beating 'Casino' (422) and the 1997 British film Nil by Mouth (428).
- Actors snorted crushed B vitamins for cocaine scenes – Jonah Hill got bronchitis and was hospitalized.
- Scorsese confirmed odd editing is intentional: every time Jordan takes drugs, the scenes that follow have continuity issues.
- C CinemaScore from audiences – 'this is why America is not to be trusted'.
- Spielberg spent a day on set during the Steve Madden speech and essentially co-directed it.
- Margot Robbie's sex scene on the cash bed gave her multiple paper cuts from the fake bills' sharp edges.
Re-casting couch
- Jennifer Lawrence as Naomi – Sean's suggestion, Russillo says no.
- Carl Weathers as Jonah Hill – 'smoke crack with me takes on a different valence'.
Apex Mountain
- Not Leo's Apex Mountain – too many incredible performances in this era (Django, Aviator, Departed). 'Titanic' is arguably his apex for cultural impact. 'There's not enough separation in the roles'.
- Not Scorsese's either – but a reminder after Hugo that 'I'm not fucking done'.
- Possibly Jonah Hill's Apex Mountain – nominated for Supporting Actor after 'Moneyball' and took $60K just to be in it.
- Bernthal's Apex Mountain per Russillo.
Who won the movie?
- Leo (Russillo's pick).
- McConaughey (Sean's pick) – one scene that defines the entire movie.
- Scorsese (Chris's pick) – 'the director is the author of the whole project.' After Hugo, this was a return to form: 'I just got to be who I am'.