"The Wolf of Wall Street": movie reviews, plot, actors, main character, release date

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Wolf of Wall Street is a 2013 film that tells the story of financial criminal Jordan Belfort. It still remains relevant in the audience circles. This is not surprising, because the picture has become one of the best collaborations between the director-actor duo Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio. The plot, basic information, interesting facts and audience reviews about the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" - all this you will find in this article.

Summary

The plot of the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" revolves around the real story of broker Jordan Belfort, who became a millionaire in a short time, committed a number of financial crimes and was arrested.

The movie opens with the famous Black Monday of 1987, the biggest industrial stock market crash ever. Shortly before this event, JordanBelfort got a job as a broker in a prestigious investment bank. After the collapse of shares, this bank was closed, and Belfort, on the advice of his wife, became a broker for a small firm and quickly realized that the banal, to some extent fraudulent "pushing in" small shares to random clients brings quite significant revenue in a short time. In 1989, Jordan opened his own OTC brokerage firm called Stratton Oakmont with his partner Donny and a few other energetic friends. The company quickly begins to turn in huge profits, and at the beginning of the new decade, Forbes magazine proclaims the young millionaire "the wolf of Wall Street".

The protagonist quickly "spoils" under the weight of cash coming in an endless stream: he spends less and less time at home, throwing grandiose parties, taking drugs of all stripes and having fun with elite prostitutes. Even office life in Stratton through the efforts of Belfort does not look like a routine: girls of easy virtue march to entertain brokers in the middle of the working day, alcohol flows like a river, cocaine pours in mountains, and Belfort himself and his entourage simply have nowhere to put the incoming cash. It gets to the point that one of the entertainment they choose is throwing a dwarf in a special suit at a target set in the middle of the office.

At one of his parties, Jordan Belfort meets a dazzling model named Naomi, with whom he immediately enters into a romantic relationship. He divorces his wife and soon marries a newsweetheart. In this marriage, Belfort has a daughter named Skyler.

Of course, large and quick cash profits could not remain unnoticed by the FBI - agents begin an investigation into the case of the protagonist. Unwilling to share his we alth with the state, Belfort opens an account with a prestigious bank in Switzerland in the name of his wife's aunt, Naomi. The money is successfully transferred there for a while, but Donnie's irresponsible behavior exposes the scam.

Seeing that the case smells like a prison, Jordan's father asks his son to leave Stratton, transferring the post of CEO to him. But literally crazy from drugs, crazy money and a sense of impunity, Belfort remains at his side. For another two years, he manages to lead a former lifestyle, but then, having collected enough evidence, the FBI agents arrest him during the filming of a commercial for the company.

Upon learning of this, Naomi files for divorce and leaves home, taking her daughter with her. Belfort decides to cooperate with the FBI and testifies against his colleagues - the very next day, all his money, property and the Stratton Oakmont company itself fall under federal arrest. Thanks to cooperation with representatives of the law, the prison term of a financial criminal is only three years.

Below is the official trailer for The Wolf of Wall Street.

Production

A tender was announced for the right to film the story of Jordan Belfort, for which Warner Brosers and Paramount had to competepictures. Both giants immediately nominated actors for the lead role: if Warner Brosers had won the tender, another famous Hollywood actor, Brad Pitt, would have played the main character. Also, Paramount producers initially wanted to see Martin Scorsese in the director's chair, but he refused when conditions appeared to limit his creative freedom in the filming process. For some time, the studio tried to involve director Ridley Scott in the project, but he was not interested in the material. Paramount Pictures made concessions, allowing Scorsese to shoot a film that falls under the "18+" restriction, and the work began to boil.

The Wolf of Wall Street director Martin Scorsese has previously worked with Leonardo DiCaprio in four feature films.

Filming began on August 8, 2012 and was filmed in New York City, Kloster and Harrison. The beach scenes were filmed at Sand's Point and the office scenes were filmed in a purpose-built abandoned building located in Ardsley.

Real chimpanzees, a lion, a snake and a goldfish, as well as dogs were involved in the filming. Scorsese's refusal to use CGI in animals has sparked outrage from conservationists. It's worth noting that Jonah Hill's character mimicked eating a goldfish, while the character's prototype actually ate the goldfish of an office colleague.

Specifications

Exactly three hours will have to spend viewers in front of the screen duringwatching "The Wolf of Wall Street", as its running time is 180 minutes. Most of the film was shot in analog - despite the fact that Martin Scorsese is a longtime supporter of film in cinema and always tries to use only it in his work, the scenes with chroma key and low light had to use digital technology. The language of the picture is English, all shooting took place in the USA. The budget of the work amounted to 100 million US dollars, and this amount paid off almost four times at the box office - the final box office amounted to 392,000,694 dollars.

In addition to Paramount Pictures, the film is a collaboration between Red Granite Pictures, Appian Way, EMJAG Productions and Sikelia Productions. As planned, it was released in theaters with an 18+ rating and an MMPA R rating.

Prime dates

For the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" 2013 was not the premiere year in all countries - this is due to the decision to release the film at the very end of the year, and therefore not all states were able to find a place for it in the New Year's cinematic grid. The first screening took place in New York on December 17, 2013, but the world premiere was scheduled for December 25 - from that date the film was shown in all cinemas in the United States, Canada and France.

In Russia, the release date of "The Wolf of Wall Street" was February 6, 2014. On the same day, the premiere of the film took place in Armenia. The most belated was the release of the picture in Lithuania - here the audience could see the story of Jordan Belfort only on February 212014.

Actors and roles

As mentioned above, Leonardo DiCaprio played the lead role of Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Most of all, this actor is known to the audience for the films "Titanic", "Aviator", "Gangs of New York". Both critics and viewers agreed that DiCaprio did an excellent job with his role. Almost everyone was sure that the actor would certainly receive the coveted Oscar statuette for her, but, unfortunately, they were mistaken.

For Australian actress Margot Robbie, "The Wolf of Wall Street" became a ticket to fame. At that time she was 23 years old, and it was her debut in the main female role. The actress brilliantly coped with the image of Naomi Lapaglia, the second wife of Belfort (real name - Nadine Caridi). Of course, the role of Robbie did not differ in complex drama - all that was required of her was to look dazzlingly sexy. However, no one can deny that in The Wolf of Wall Street, Margot Robbie was not a "decorative" actress, as is often the case in crime dramas. She really managed to create a deep and interesting image of a woman who knows her own worth.

Managed to reveal his serious talent in "The Wolf of Wall Street" and John Hill - a performer previously known exclusively for comedic roles. In the picture, the actor, who played in the films "Knocked Up", "In Flight", "Escape from Vegas", "Viliens" and others, played the role of Belfort's best friend and partner. Donnie Azoff. The character's original name is actually Danny Porush - his real name was supposed to be kept in the story, but Porush threatened legal action if that happened. It is worth noting that participation in this film brought Jonah Hill a second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in his entire creative career, as well as other film awards, but the actor did not receive a single prize in the end.

In the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" the list of actors who played secondary roles also deserves attention. What is worth only Matthew McConaughey (by the way, the winner of the Oscar in 2013 for another film), who appeared in the cameo role of the first exchange boss Jordan Belfort!

Other celebrities included the expressive Rob Reiner as the protagonist's father, Jean Dujardin as a banker, Jon Favreau as lawyer Manny Riskin, and Jordan Belfort himself, who made a brief appearance as a we alth seminar organizer.

Russian dubbing

Who voiced Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street? All Russian fans of this actor have long known that his "official" dubbing actor for many years has been Sergey Burunov - an artist of cinema, theater and dubbing. Before the role of Belfort, Burunov gave his voice to Leonardo DiCaprio in the films The Aviator, Shutter Island, Inception, Django Unchained, The Great Gatsby and others.

The character played by Jonah Hill was voiced by Diomid Vinogradov in the Russian version of the film - he had previously dubbed the characters of this actor in the film "Druzhinniki" and the cartoon "Megamind".

And the dubbing of Tatyana Shitova, who "played" the heroine of Margot Robbie, the audience of the film may be familiar if they use the "Alice" application from Yandex, since it was she who gave the application her voice. Subsequently, Robbie again "spoke" in the voice of Shitova in the films "Suicide Squad" and "Tonya Against Everyone".

Soundtrack

A particularly attentive viewer while watching can count more than sixty songs involved in the musical content of "The Wolf of Wall Street". In any case, it was about this number of soundtracks that the composer of the picture, Howard Shore, reported. On the day of the New York premiere of the picture, the official soundtrack album, released on the Virgin Records label, appeared on the shelves. Of the more than sixty songs involved, only sixteen were included in this disc, among which were:

• Cannonball Adderley - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!
• Elmore James - Dust My Broom.
• Billy Joel-Movin' Out (Anthony's Song).
• Eartha Kitt - C'est Si Bon.
• Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Goldfinger.
• Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing.
• The Lemonheads - Mrs. Robinson and others.

Awards and nominations

Despite as many as fiveprestigious Oscar nominations in 2013 (best film, director, adapted screenplay, male roles of the first and second plan), the Wolf of Wall Street did not receive a single award. However, the picture did not remain completely without prizes: the American Film Institute recognized it as the best film of the year, the US National Council of Film Critics included it in the top ten and awarded the screenwriter, and for Leonardo DiCaprio prizes were prepared in the nomination "Best Actor" from the "Golden Globe" and Critics' Choice.

The true story of Jordan Belfort

The memoir of the same name, based on the film The Wolf of Wall Street, was written and published by Jordan Belfort in 2007 and 2009. Despite the fact that after the events described in the picture, the fraudulent broker was sentenced to four years in prison, he spent only 22 months in prison and was released in 2000.

After getting rid of all his addictions, but still unable to adapt to the life of an average American, Belfort published two books of memoirs, and then began to conduct business seminars. And this despite the fact that to this day he still owes the state an amount exceeding ten million dollars.

It is worth noting that "The Wolf of Wall Street" is the second film about Jordan Belfort: in 2000, Ben Younger's "Boiler Room" was released, which was also based on the life story of the famous broker.

Quotes

"The Wolf of Wall Street", like many films by Martin Scorsese, immediately after the release of the screens was taken apart by the audience for quotes. Some of them are funny and are perceived exclusively in the context of what is happening on the screen, while others, on the contrary, are thoughtful and may well live separately from the film. The best quotes from The Wolf of Wall Street are below.

• Without action, the best intentions in the world will remain intentions.

• Good news travels fast, bad news travels instantly.

• The cheapest item is what other people think of you.

• I wish I could love something as much as I hate everything.

• As a society we are smarter than ever, it's just that technology has given voice to the unintelligent masses.

• "Give me an autograph!" - "I don't have a pen!" - "Buy me a pen!"

• Most people, even in a film about their lives, would play a supporting role.

• Risk is the cure for old age.

• You know, when you have a yacht, like a Bond villain, sometimes you want to be in character.

Interesting facts

The description of The Wolf of Wall Street, like any other significant film, would not be complete without a handful of interesting facts told by the creators and participants in the filming process.

• Leonardo DiCaprio dreamed of playing Jordan Belfort since 2007years, immediately after reading the broker's memoirs. During pre-production, as well as throughout the filming process, the actor regularly met, communicated and consulted with Belfort.
• Joana Lumley, who plays Aunt Emma, is one of Leonardo DiCaprio's favorite actresses. In the kiss scene between Emma and Jordan, the actor was so nervous that he had to do 27 takes.
• In all the scenes of cocaine use, the actors sniffed crushed vitamin B tablets.

• The cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto contributed to the bizarre montage of the film, separating the "sober" and "drug" states of the protagonist. He decided to use anamorphic lenses for Belfort's stoned scenes and shoot everything else with spherical optics. Thanks to this, after watching half of the film, the viewer subconsciously determines the state of the character - even before he knows whether he took anything or not.
• It is curious that for his work in this film, actor Jonah Hill received a fee at the minimum rate of the US Screen Actors Guild, namely 60 thousand dollars excluding taxes. He himself set this condition so as not to lose his place in the film, since he really wanted to star in Martin Scorsese. Hill later joked that he would even be willing to shoot for free or pay the director to approve him for a role in his film.
• Especially attentive viewermay notice that the curse word Fuck, as well as its variations, are pronounced 506 times throughout the picture.
• Margot Robbie was very shy and nervous before filming the scene in which she appears half naked in front of Leonardo DiCaprio. To relax, she had to gulp down three shots of tequila.
• The list of guests invited to the wedding, which Jordan Belfort handed to the FBI agents, included all members of the film crew.

Critic Opinion & Rating

Reviews of the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" from professional critics were mostly positive and even enthusiastic. Many boldly called the picture the best in Martin Scorsese's career in at least the last 20 years, the play of all the actors involved, highly artistic camerawork and excellent sound were highly appreciated. Among the complaints about the film, film critics mainly featured only an unreasonably long running time, the absence of the need for too detailed erotic and drug scenes, as well as excessive (in their opinion) romanticization of the lifestyle of a person who is a real-life criminal.

The film has a very good rating of 77% on Rotten Tomatoes based on over 200 reviews. On the IMDB website, the film received an even higher rating - 8.2 out of 10. The rating on the domestic resource "Kinopoisk" coincides with the results of Rotten Tomatoes - 77% positive.

Viewer Reviews

The ratio of positive and negative reviews of the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" on the Russian site"Kinopoisk" - more than 300 positive and 80 negative, as well as 60 neutral. It is worth noting that the same percentage of opinions is found on all resources where it is possible to watch and comment on this picture.

What did the Russian audience like in this work by Martin Scorsese? Of course, most people were able to catch the director's message and understand that there is no romanticization of the criminal Belfort in the film, and his lifestyle can appeal only to those who are already predisposed to excesses, debauchery and illegal entertainment. It was especially easy for avid Scorsese fans to understand this, knowing that he often uses in his films the theme of quick and easy enrichment and rise, which, as a rule, does not bring happiness to the main characters and ends with a loud fall. Of course, in this case, the story is somewhat distorted by the fact that the main character is a real person who is not so punished by fate and continues to lead a comfortable existence. But the audience understands that this has nothing to do with the film.

But, unfortunately, among the viewers who fell in love with "The Wolf of Wall Street", there were those who sincerely considered Jordan Belfort's biography worthy of respect and imitation, who did not hesitate to write it directly. Some of these viewers even called the character of Leonardo DiCaprio their hero, a "real man", a man who knows how to live for his own pleasure and "to the fullest." Reading such opinions makes it clear that those critics who gave a negative ratingfilm, were not completely wrong about the romanticization of the image of the criminal.

Unsurprisingly, the majority of viewers, who left a positive opinion, found not only the directing and storytelling outstanding, but also the performance of Leonardo DiCaprio. Many wrote that this man, who is now a living legend of modern cinema, simply surpassed himself in this picture, creating the image of a living person with his own, albeit wrong, outlook on life, cute and disgusting at the same time.

Negative audience reviews of the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" generally coincide with the claims of professionals. A sufficiently large number of viewers were not even able to watch the picture to the end, either tired of the duration, or unable to bear watching the fun excesses of the protagonist in absolutely everything that he encounters in life. Someone wrote down in the minuses of the film an absolute dislike for the main character, in which the only plus is "DiCaprio's pretty appearance", someone, on the contrary, firmly decided that Scorsese does not condemn, but supports the lifestyle of Jordan Belfort.

Well, those viewers who decided not to go to extremes and leave a neutral comment, agreed in this opinion: this film by Martin Scorsese is certainly a masterpiece in many aspects and deserves attention. They paid this attention, admired the acting and the beauty of the frame, but nothing more. It's just that this part of the audience does not like this genre of films, in no way belittlingthe virtues present in them and without offending those who fully liked The Wolf of Wall Street.