It’s been 11 years since the premiere of Martin Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street, and fans are still wondering how many of the absolutely wild things that happen in the movie are actually true to life.
As many of us know, Jordan Belfort, memorably portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, was a real person. He founded brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont and, like in the film, ended up serving 22 months in prison for money laundering and security fraud.
While Belfort’s ex, Dr Nadine Macaluso, played by Margot Robbie in the movie, has pointed out one scene that is definitely more fiction than fact, she did say the NSFW moment she met Belfort actually happened in real life.
A number of other scenes are pretty bang on the money too, such as when Belfort gives a rousing speech on the balcony of his beachfront mansion.
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In the film, DiCaprio memorably screams: “We got plans up here which is going to take this company into the f**king stratosphere.”
Well, footage showing the real Jordan Belfort giving a similar speech in 1991 might be a little toned down, but viewers picked up on how well DiCaprio captured the mannerisms of the convicted fraudster.
The clip was shared on the YouTube page Comp Guy, who wrote: "Here's the REAL Wolf of Wall Street Beach House party, from the summer of 1991.
"It was taken a few months BEFORE the infamous Forbes Magazine article."
This is in reference to a 1991 Forbes piece which described Belfort as a ‘twisted Robin Hood who takes from the rich and gives to himself and his merry band of brokers’, which cemented his notoriety.
Many people noted how close the real footage was to Scorsese’s film, with one writing: “The accent from Leo DiCaprio is spot on!”
Another said: “It’s insane that the real Jordan Belfort’s personality and everything is just like the movie, it’s so cool.”
A third simply said: “Would of loved to be a fly on the wall all the time around him and his co workers.”
Speaking about how she met Belfort in real-life, Dr Macaluso described a disturbing moment at his mansion.
"So you guys have been asking how did I meet Jordan, the Wolf of Wall Street," she said.
"Well, it's actually pretty similar to the movie. I was, I guess, 22 years old and modelling and my boyfriend at the time, said, 'You want to go to this party in Westhampton in this house on the beach?', and I was like, 'Sure'.
"And so we pulled up, and I remember walking into the house, and there were all these people acting really weird. Little did I know that they were all Quaaluded out, I had no idea."
Macaluso continued: "That scene where someone actually exposes himself to me was true. And I actually got terrified by that.
"I'm 22. And I said to my boyfriend at the time, 'We have to leave this party,' and we left right away."
Topics: Leonardo DiCaprio, Film
Simon Fearn