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Scorsese Back with Leonardo DiCaprio for 'The Wolf of Wall Street'?

by Ethan Anderton
February 16, 2011
Source: Vulture

Last July we heard there was a possibility that director Ridley Scott would re-team with his Body of Lies star Leonardo DiCaprio for a gestating adaptation of Jordan Belfort's memoir The Wolf of Wall Street for Warner Bros. Now Vulture reports the project has fallen back into the hands of director Martin Scorsese who was actually weakly linked to the project along with DiCaprio in March of '07 following the Best Picture win for The Departed. Apparently the script from Terrence Winter (who recently collaborated with Scorsese on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire") could go in front of cameras as an independent production as early as this summer.

The Wolf of Wall Street is about a Long Island penny stockbroker who served 20 months in jail for refusing to cooperate in a massive 90's securities fraud case that involved widespread corruption on Wall Street and in the banking world, including the mob. Since the book is an autobiography, there's surely a certain amount of embellishment and manipulation as the focus is often on the vast amount of sex, drugs and risky physical taxes Belfort endured while glamorously living off of the scammed money. Though I'd like to see Scorsese find a leading man besides DiCaprio from time to time, the two do work quite well together. Excited?

Update: Just as secondary confirmation in case anyone thought this was a hoax, Deadline posted their own story confirming that "Scorsese now plans to follow through and direct Wolf of Wall Street with Leonardo DiCaprio." So it's actually on, this is next for Marty after Hugo Cabret. "They will announce financing and a start date in Cannes." And, as reported, they're keeping independent control. This will be interesting!

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