The Wolf of Wall Street
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, P.J. Byrne, Jon Favreau, jonah hill, Spike Jonze
The “wolf” of the film’s title is Jordan Belfort, a real-life Wall Street stock broker who was convicted of securities fraud and money laundering in 2003 and served 22 months of a four-year sentence. Then, he wrote a book, which was optioned by director Martin Scorcese and actor Leo DiCaprio. Now, he gives motivational speeches, sprinkled with mea culpas about his criminal past, “ … I was a bad guy. And it wasn’t like I started that way.” So in addition standing to make millions from the film, which is a nice marketing tool for his speech-making business (and yes, he is paid handsomely), Belfort might get a change to rehabilitate his image, thanks to DiCaprio. Who says crime doesn’t pay?
DiCaprio is already drawing well-deserved Oscar buzz for his performance. –p.d. lee
Opens in theaters nationwide Christmas Day.
