Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese team up for the fifth time for The Wolf of Wall Street
You didn’t expect the forces of nature to keep these two away for long did you? Though many had expected Martin Scorsese to follow-up his Oscar-winning Hugo with Silence – his long-gestating passion project about a pair of 18th century Jesuit priests who encounter persecution and violence in Japan – it looks like that project will have to make way for another of Scorsese’s long-delayed projects, The Wolf of Wall Street.
Scorsese and BFF Leonardo DiCaprio will team up for the fifth time this August to shoot the corporate thriller, according to Deadline. The film, written by Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos) and based on the best-selling memoir by Jordan Belfort, will chronicle Belfort’s rise and fall as a New York stockbroker who rose up the ranks in the 80s and early 90s by committing stock market fraud while developing an outrageous lifestyle fueled by sex, drugs and alcohol.
I don’t know about you, but this role smells like it has all the ingredients DiCaprio would need to set himself up for another Oscar nomination. Then again, I thought he had all of that for J. Edgar and look what a languid turd that turned out to be. Regardless, any time these two guys collaborate, it’s an occasion for film fans to celebrate so here’s to two more hours of Scorsese directing Leo losing his shit!
Here’s the full press release:
Martin Scorsese will direct The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The deal, which brings Scorsese and DiCaprio together for their fifth feature collaboration, was made official today.
Red Granite Pictures owns the rights to Jordan Belfort’s best-selling memoir “The Wolf of Wall Street,” on which the film is based. Red Granite principals Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland are producing along with Leonardo DiCaprio (Appian Way), Martin Scorsese and Emma Koskoff (Sikelia Productions) and Alexandra Milchan (EMJAG Productions). Irwin Winkler and Georgia Kacandes will executive produce.
Leonardo DiCaprio will star as Jordan Belfort – the ‘Wolf of Wall Street.’
Terence Winter (“The Sopranos,” “Boardwalk Empire”) adapted the screenplay, which chronicles Belfort’s dramatic rise and fall on Wall Street, along with his hard-partying lifestyle and tumultuous personal life, which included drug and alcohol addiction.
“Everything about this film plays to Martin Scorsese’s genius and visionary storytelling, said Riza Aziz. “At its heart, ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ is about the rise of new ‘modern’ gangsters in New York. Wall Street gangsters that redefined excess, greed and arrogance. We’re excited to see Mr. Scorsese take the reins of this visceral, tumultuous ride.”
“All of us at Appian Way are thrilled to collaborate, once again, with Martin Scorsese,” said Jennifer Killoran, partner in Appian Way. “With Martin’s unique vision and our partnership with Red Granite Pictures and EMJAG, we are excited to bring this story to film.”
Production on “The Wolf of Wall Street” is slated to begin in August in New York.
[Source: Deadline]
