Most Ridiculous Facts About The Wolf of Wall Street

If Oliver Stone’s Wall Street proved anything, it's that greed is good. That motto pushed Jordan Belfort to do unethical, illegal things to gain his fortune.

He documented his crash-and-burn fall in the book The Wolf of Wall Street, which legendary director, Martin Scorsese, turned into an award-winning film. Many wild things happened in this movie, but here are the most ridiculous facts about The Wolf of Wall Street.

The Wolf of Wall Street

In this post:

Setting World Records

Director Martin Scorsese isn't one to shy away from four-letter words in his films, but he took it up a notch in The Wolf of Wall Street. There were nearly 700 expletives throughout the three-hour runtime, which rounded out to approximately four per minute. You'd have to imagine that language was status quo for financial institutions depicted in the movie.

What Goes Around Comes Around

The thing about movies is they are often pirated. That was the case in 2014, as The Wolf of Wall Street was the most pirated film with over 30 million illegal downloads. Its end-of-the-year release date didn't help it, especially when it was going up against The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, and American Hustle.

Jonah Hill's Compromise

Sometimes, people need to make sacrifices for the greater good. In order for Jonah Hill to fulfill his lifelong dream of working with Martin Scorsese, he took the Screen Actors Guild minimum of $60,000 to co-star in this film.

Between this and Moneyball, Hill established himself as a credible actor who could do more than be goofy. However, when you compare that to the $25 million that DiCaprio made, Hill maybe should have fine-tuned his negotiating tactics.

A Star Is Born

While familiar faces like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, and Rob Reiner appeared throughout the film, Margot Robbie was relatively unknown at the time of its release.

Playing the main love interest, Naomi, Robbie had many seductive scenes that showcased her jaw-dropping beauty and stellar acting chops. But what may be surprising to most is that the spiciest scene was all her idea.

Robbie claimed that Naomi would use her body as currency to get what she wanted, so it seemed fitting that she would bare it all, even if that wasn’t in the original script.

Keeping It Real

The film's focus was on Jordan Belfort, who made a cameo at the end, and his rise to prominence with his firm Stratton Oakmount. In many of the scenes at the office, there were tens if not hundreds of extras to create the chaotic atmosphere. Rather than paying extras with no background, Scorsese decided to use former Stratton Oakmount employees.

Next time you find Wolf of Wall Street on TV, you can appreciate the most ridiculous facts about the film. Even three hours long, it remains one of the most rewatchable movies in the past decade.

You can watch Wolf of Wall Street on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+.

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