With a star-studded cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, and Jonah Hill along with source material delving into Wall Street greed and betrayal, Martin Scorsese's latest film, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” seems to be his return to recognizable territory of horrible deeds done by extravagant individuals. However, as glimpsed from a recent peek at the script written by Terence Winter (“Boardwalk Empire”), those familiar elements do feature some intriguing twists to the formula that Scorsese has made classic, in addition to news of another veteran actor who may be lending solely his voice talents to the project. Minor spoilers below.
Based on the rise and fall of Wall Street hotshot Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio), Winters' script begins with the gravelly timbre of Gene Hackman, who's just been revealed (via Business Insider) as narrating the opening minutes of the film. Heard in a “commercial” for Stratton-Oakmont — the Wall Street firm where Belfort finds his fortune — Hackman's voice-over accompanies a classy snapshot of the company and its employees. However, the situation immediately turns on its head, as the advertisement smash-cuts to a literal dwarf-throwing contest among Belfort and his Stratton-Oakmont employees, setting the tone for a very different glimpse at Wall Street indeed. Of course, whether the retired Hackman actually heads to a recording studio or not for this bit part remains to be seen, but it would certainly be a nice touch.
From there, the script launches through the inevitabilities of such a lifestyle, such as on-the-job education from Belfort's superior, Danny Porush (McConaughey), fast-paced affairs culminating with sex atop piles of money, cocaine snorted off spoons, and tense encounters with federal agents as financial situations stress the lines of legality. Filled with the type of monologue lines like, “Be aggressive. Be ferocious. Be telephone fucking terrorists," the script also features dozens of moments in which lesser actors could crumble into histrionics completely. Luckily, Jean Dujardin, Rob Reiner, Jake Hoffman, Jon Bernthal, Cristin Milioti, Margot Robbie, Ethan Suplee and Katrina Cas round off the reliably-solid supporting cast, and so while Scorsese may find trouble in making 'Wolf' as it lenses this month, audiences surely won't when the film is released next year.
To check out all the nitty gritty details, hit Business Insider or perhaps save it for when you see the film for yourself, presumably sometime next year.