Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese Reveal Secrets of Making 'The Wolf of Wall Street'

sex drugs and risky business were the only things on the Taurus stock swindler Jordan Belfort's mind until his fall from grace over a decade ago Academy award-winning director Martin Scorsese reunites with Leonardo DiCaprio in his latest film the wolf of Wall Street which chronicles Belfort's indulgent ride as a crooked banker squandering profits from a boiler room brokerage that ended up burning thousands of investors joined The Hollywood Reporter as we sit down with Access Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill screenwriter Terence winter and the legendary Martin Scorsese to discuss the inspiration challenges and breakthroughs in the making of this movie welcome to The Hollywood Reporter InFocus the wolf of Wall Street my name is Jordan Belfort at the tender age of 22 I headed to the only place that fit my high-minded ambition name of the game move the money from your clients pocket into your pocket but if he can make a client's money at the same time it's advantageous everyone correct No I'm Steven Galloway with The Hollywood Reporter and thank you for joining us for an in-depth look at one film Martin Scorsese's the wolf of Wall Street and I say hello to Leonardo DiCaprio along Marty Scorsese Jonah Hill and Terry winter who wrote the script let's go to the subject and how this began what what drew you all to this this story what was so fascinating after reading the book was this time period in Wall Street but how candid and honest Jordan Belfort was about his undertakings during that time period I mean I've never read an account of anything more embarrassing in my life and it was just hard to believe it was it was almost like a modern-day Caligula it was like a Roman Empire gone Orion in the late 80s early 90s and so we we optioned the book tear immediately wrote an unbelievable screenplay and I think the road to getting it made was you know six or seven years long we tried to make it initially at some right after shutter island' no before before shudder we did shudder instead remember and it is right that it's right that Irish the gangster think that's right that's mo picture that one I hadn't seen it but I it's all 9s no no you guys should take about hi okay you're in a bidding war with Brad Pitt did we win yes we want I think how did you win what did you say that the got you the project I don't remember I guess it was just the passion for for wanting to make this into a movie I think we were all in agreement that we wanted to tell the truest version of this story and not the sanitized version I mean it's incredibly wild ride the book is I put it down to sleep for a couple hours got back up and finished it in one sitting it's just you can't believe what you're reading and the giddiness in which the story is told Jordan is absolutely forthcoming to the point where you can't believe this man is talking about himself some of the things he's admitting so we wanted to do that version of it and one of the observations I made was that Jordan is so funny talking about people what they look like how he goofed on people and that they wouldn't naturally make their way into conversation I didn't want to lose that so I brought this up to the voiceover and Marty said well yeah this is sort of I said it kind of feels like like Goodfellas and Casino to me would it be okay if I wrote it in that style and try that and everybody was on board with us you just wanted to hear Jordans voice so you were coming at this Magic Circle were you nervous yes the first rehearsals were just the three of us in a in a hall you know so for me obviously it was intimidating us is my favorite director or my favorite actor and now I got to you know was in was having to be in the position to work with them the first few days it was incredibly intimidating but once you got into the work then you dive into that you're making something together we first met in Mexico yeah yeah and he had he had read the screenplay and you know what you look for with anyone is a firm commitment that they are that character and he and we were sitting down outside and he said I read this script and there's there's nobody else that should play that role except yeah you told me you know that right he knows and I immediately told you about it and from but the feedback that I got was you guys met once and marty was like it was one of the best meetings I've ever had in my life this guy's got to play the role actually first time I met him was at the Academy Awards he was sitting in front of me he was great sitting in front of me was incredibly as a hell of a writer saying they just said Josh I know he was just saying there it was amazing yeah the back of my head was really expressive and you really believed he was sitting I was I was believed he was sitting in front of the horse like I was actually there yeah you know and so I had seen Moneyball all that sort of stuff so unless no okay and then you called and said about him nice I just met the guy you know and then of course we met in New York he came in having somebody like John on set was an amazing amazing gift for us it really was because his ability to improvise and take this take things in a million different directions and then having to hone the scenes sort of back to where the hell we started and make a point I kept saying where are we with again what the hell is going on excuse me yeah such a crime what yeah JJ yeah yeah how much money I don't know 72,000 last month you show me a paced up for 72 thousand dollars on it I quit my job right now and I were for you you've worked at it I think this is your fifth film do you remember the first time you met I do I was in New York I believe I was 18 or so I just on Gilbert Grape and there was an after party down at some bar downtown you were there I quickly bumped into you and I was sort of paralyzed that it was you huh and I just sort of stood that he said hey kid I saw your movie yeah yeah you did a great job in that film keep it up keep it up and I just didn't say anything sort of walked by me that's right and I was kind of I was shocked that he'd actually seen you know was I'd done two movies at that time this boy's life in Gilbert a protracted he'd actually seen the film and said something I mean I was just kind of blown away by that what did you remember the first time you guys met I mean not that I don't remember that I remember seeing the film course in Robert De Niro as the one who told me about Leo I said you work with this kid in this film and you should really work with him someday and so I think was the first time I was on the set of of a film I was shooting in New York oh yeah did I figure out the day yeah right we talked with with talking about gangs in New York and I guess that's how it that's how it started as you've got to know each other what surprised you about each other well I had always had you know we have this image of Martin Scorsese I think from the films that he's done I mean look I I didn't quite understand what a professor of film he is how he could challenge anyone in the world as far as his knowledge of film is concerned his passion for film and its preservation and how men lives and breeds cinema every single day of his life but beyond that what an incredible collaborator he is with other actors and how much he respects the actors process I mean I you know that from seeing the movies that he does but there really is nobody better your your performance is paramount to him and the film I think is structured ultimately around what you do as an actor and what he brings out and he keeps talking about plot being insignificant to him when he does a movie it's it's about the characters it's about the people and that's that's a process that needs to be nurtured and that's something that is as a talent and unto itself because it's difficult to get us as performers to feel comfortable unsetting and be our best when you came to cut it you had a much longer cut than the final I think to our 45 what happened the film was delayed it was going to be released earlier there was a lot of debate it took longer to cut the shaping of the picture that's all there was so much footage our process was pushed back about four or five weeks maybe four weeks I'd say but that's also the part two of absorbing the picture thinking about the shape of it it was naturally a lengthier than it is now so how long was he was over four hours or so yeah so we wanted to release it to that length no not really no that's all just the first cut that everybody talked about these director cuts things it doesn't really unless in the old days they took the film away from you and they made a cut it was the director's cut here and somebody found it that's a director's cut but the longer cut is a longer cut there's nothing in the picture that there's a couple of lines of dialogue oh I would like to put back in but with just the rhythm is just off just a bit it affects the next scene in the next scene and it was really really quite a quite an experience putting this together in the editing room do you get nervous as the director nervous yeah all the time it's a horrible wonderfully car wonderful and horrible at the same time experience should you turn to for advice um well for advice on set you can be honest as a man no matter what am I gonna do you know I mean close out the people who work with me really and it's the actors and the DP Rodrigo Prieto on this Adam Sumner who's the assistant director work for the first time he works a lot on well Steven Spielberg films he did War Horse so and I think it he could do this then you call us you do you call out to call Spielberg and say hey what's your take on when he came on the set the day we're shooting the speeches yeah so he was there he said came in to say hello and he stayed the whole day and was helping this I think you should move the cash the microphones walk in your face I couldn't walk in his face I know what am I gonna do what it was like a double whammy for everyone on set everyone who had to act that there was like Jesus Christ Spielberg and Scorsese are watching me yeah that is if all of this wasn't surreal oh and you would go back to get notes and they were sitting next to each other it was insane yeah with this script I'm gonna teach each and every one of you to be the best this is the greatest company in the world the speeches that he wrote for me were particularly I mean I'd been thinking about them for seven years I'd never had you know a monologue like that in my life and when went on for four pages was amazing did you think Kathleen if we wrote those speeches oh yeah I mean you know going over them in my head you know we're writing a version coming back reading through it acting it out loud when I say acting I put big quotes around that the joy for a writer of course is to write something and then you hear it in your head you go yeah that really works and then watch an actor like Leo take it and bring it to a level you never even but you wouldn't actually on the set but now don't know remember when I saw it I couldn't believe when I got back it was just unbelievable I mean you know it's it's just it's taken to a different place I mean those are the words but again in the in the mouth of somebody who's you know Leo's ability is just it's incredible I remember the day I was on set I was on set and I was supposed to get up there in front of you know what 600 extras and give this giant Braveheart like speech on greed pumping people up to go out there and screw people over and my throat kind of just seized up it was almost like an adrenaline dump and I immediately got sick and we had to I have a great picture of you with all the medicine and yeah it's like $9,000 shot around it shot around it got the reactions thank God I got you know I had a couple days to sort of yeah rethink all of it and prepare myself for it get better and we ended up doing it a few weeks later this right here is the land of opportunity you just tried to bribe a federal officer this is America when I do this hand like test I'm Way behind yeah keep it that's good hold it like that were you guys superimpose a glass of champagne I had gone down the road of looking for other filmmakers at one point because he was going off to do silence and I couldn't get him out of my mind because I don't I didn't think there was anybody that could quite capture the the dark sadistic humor and carries screenplay as Marty and I just didn't want to do with anybody else so I waited and waited and waited and waited and finally an opportunity came and and with the right group of people that said basically you know you know push it even further push the envelope even further don't don't hold anything back as producer you're also I guess in the positions they know - your director did you ever but where did you not agree no one what way though you caught you another day oh no wait we actually not takes no no not that no I would no I don't think so but what was interesting is that we you know we worked very closely on how many days we should go where should where should we put the emphasis in production elements we got hit with hurricane sandy went to close down for a week all of this went on well bringing back all these men well yeah well know how did that affect you stop but every day they say good tomorrow and then we get up and then it was next day and the next day finally they started then the crane fell on the building I couldn't the crane on 57th Street started to fall because of Hurricane sandy and and our my editing rooms across the street and we couldn't get in the block so I couldn't even go an edit so the whole week we just waited you know I was becoming a legend thank you Mary yeah but many people can't have friends enemies I was making so much money I didn't know what to do with it $26,000 for one dinner dad we're not poor anymore tell about the size we were sad besides that your cancer besides did cure cancer that's the problem they were there that's why they were expensive it's Wall Street setting the past what does it say about the world today any of you yeah I think how history repeats itself how we're not learning from our mistakes I mean it's just it is just holding a mirror up to what is still going on it's it's remarkable man you think certainly I mean I thought after 2008 like surely this is the end of this stuff and you look just a man it just keeps on going but here it is it's all right there for you what has changed what is change they pay fines can afford 350 billion you can afford it well who's who's culpable where are they Jordan goes to jail did you think when you set out to make this and was it your intent to create a mirror for society today we're doing a movie about a theme that has been touched upon many times in the past which is greed and and you know I started talking I was doing press the other day I started talking about greed I'm like okay when did greed start you know let's look back and I'm like wait a minute it started before civilization and it doesn't it's not beholden to mankind itself but greed is a fundamental characteristic of survival of all living things on 2001 because nothing that would not a whole another species in order to survive it's fundamentally a part of evolution in existence and you know and being able to progress forward so I was trying to talk about greed in this obscure way and I realized wait a minute okay where's the delineation between who we are now and and what greed is and it comes back to the fact that you know are we as this intelligent lifeform able to you know supersede that to overcome to ultimately live harmoniously with others and and in the world we live in that's your very nature we have to deal with it its inherent every problem out there you know greed is the basis of all of it are we able to set the question that I'm supposed to answer here you're often better are we able to you know I think it has to do with the evolution of our species honestly and I do not think we're there yet I may not agree I mean not not not even close that's certainly one but that's to be a constant recognition of the failures of the failure of who we are whether your own you know people around you the society or in and the ability to be able to criticize and be able to talk freely mm-hmm about without being tagged or you know give another I'm teaching my five and six year old how to play Monopoly and you know when you see that they are positively giddy if you land on one of their things and I think realize I can bankrupt you cuz you just a it's always six years old he's like why can you cut me a break here you're out of money you know you got to give me this give me that it's like wow I mean this is just hardwired you know it is hardwired into justice that that killer instinctive just like like okay you know thanks that's got attached ah it's being aware the other person you know there really is being what is what where's the thing of a common good or individual freedom it's a I was about the common good that's the idea we don't work for you man yeah my money take to you goose technically doing for me how does this actually work is a big money sign they get launched out to try they stick this is their gift okay they're built to be thrown like a lawn dart stop thank you for safety safety is first I don't want to get a bad reputation what were you most uncertain about when you went into this film no worried about yeah it sounds uh may sound funny but I mean everything really um yet um had to find the the places with everyone had to find the scenes in how I had to find how these scenes could feel as if they were happening at the moment and then somehow the energy of the piece carries you through before you realize there isn't any plot really but you seem to be spending a lot of time with these people I think and so what are they doing basically and is that really important and how important for example we we had to be technically important but about the financial aspects of it yeah that sort of thing but ultimately I said nobody died and my mind nobody really listens to that they're enjoying or enjoying a ghast we also made a virtue of that I mean we there was a lot of techno speak about what is an IPO for example and how does it work and in the original drafts of the script the Jordan explains it and Marty and I talked I said this is sort of like science fiction where they talk about Leo sending the rocket to space of the you know the flange has to be voted that's wrong you're not really hearing anything that's saying all you need to know is if this thing goes up and explodes its bed and we said sort of the same thing here it doesn't matter so we actually had sequences where Jordan starts to explain for example what is an IPO and then stuff so goes you know what you really doesn't say the solution is this we made 27 million dollars in two hours and then what's an IPO that's an IPO I still don't know when I deal with so Danny I'm just her but but it's it yeah it was really the and also style the style because the style would voice over is something that I've worked on for years and and how can I find another another part of the prison so to speak how could I take the energy and push it even further and sustain it for over a long period of time that's the key because you knew this was gonna be a long film I think I had a sense away yeah yeah I had a sense of that because of them and in the the seemingly loose structural aspects of it which really isn't but it has to feel that way that's the feelings just flowing the new question is this was all this legal absolutely not Peggy was capacious of your whole inner circle when I first read the screen but before I started to do all the research is not knowing a lot about Wall Street was thinking that maybe these guys were big-time players that they were made offs or Milken's then he starts to do investigation wait a minute these are like guys from the underworld right yeah but these are thugs beating on the same thing or see it's still the second it's the essence of it it's the essence of of that kind of thinking that way it's the essence of behaving that way and it's also something that I think it's part of human nature that's the other issue I think all of us under certain circumstances could be capable of some very despicable acts I just think that and that's the way that's why over the years the movies I've made have characters we're starting with Main Street so you care what people thought about them we're trying to be as true to them as possible and maybe see part of ourselves in there that we may not like but it's affecting everyone particularly the behavior in this film is affecting everyone around the world right now always has York Erickson almost every scene of this film and I think you went from Django Unchained to Gatsby to this you go back to back what kind of toll does that take on you personally yeah I actually did Gatsby first then I went straight into Django Unchained and then I went straighten this and you know usually I I like to take a nice six months to prepare for each role in between but look I mean I had been waiting for this movie to happen for so many years and finally the everything was lined up perfectly to make it happen and I felt like I'd already done so much of the preparation in my head that the opportunity to do it was you know was worth doing three movies back to back I mean I think I had a few weeks or a month or couple of weeks I think yeah in between each of them but yeah it was almost a year and a half two years of straight work Jonah you're working constantly now - I mean it's it's it takes a toll on you though it really does but you know thankfully with this one yeah you know we developed it they can come off now yeah I've already taken my time off just as we wrap up what's the what's the experience of this will change the most in each of you Jonah getting to play Donny I I lost every shred of thoughtfulness to anyone else and truly but I think you know I really treated him like an animal like it was someone just trying to gather horde feed his needs whatever and without any regard for what that would do to any other person I think being able to do that for six months and live with that after the fact really makes you want to be thoughtful to people in a deeper way it certainly got me off the idea of wanting to invest any money on Wall Street for the first time in my life I think you know I think I'm happy with what I have and I think maybe there's better things to do with my money and yeah just really opened my eyes to the whole culture I mean I worked on Wall Street at one point earlier in my life and you know didn't really think much about it until I spent a lot of time in this world and you know just just really maybe rethink the system and the damage done by a lot of these guys Liam uh it just made me think about all our primal urges and our need to you know manage those and and not give in to the temptations that are out there the life this man led was giving in to every possible temptation with without regard for anyone else and you know when you jump into that world headfirst as we did and we started to feel like our characters sometimes I mean I know Jonah and I were we just became kind of different people on Ceti coming back to reality you literally when you drive home yeah you're like oh my god you have to stop yourself from being this incredibly arrogant prick you know what I mean well I I didn't I'm gonna say I was gonna say I just had to farm it not moldy what about you I don't even know if it's a relief I am from deliver the film today I can't I don't it's like suddenly they I don't know the rug has been pulled out from under you I'm flying forward and I don't know it's been in some sort of crazy dream perfect note when I want to thank Terence winter Jonah Hill Martin Scorsese Leonardo DiCaprio thanks so much thank you thank office thank you where the charges you you

Channel: The Hollywood Reporter

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Keywords: Biography, criminal, Film, Jonah Hill, Jordan Belfort, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, movie, Stock Broker, terence winter, The Wolf of Wall Street, THR, youtube, New York City (City/Town/Village), money ball, performance, margot robbie, Steven Spielberg, actor, actress, actors, acting, actresses, celebrity, interview, roundtable, gossip, roundtables, movies, oscar, oscars, awards, film

Id: dBDsoW1ClJM

Length: 26min 53sec (1613 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 10 2013