Matthew McConaughey Came Up With Wolf Of Wall Street Chant Scene Himself

The chant from The Wolf of Wall Street's 'cocaine and hookers' scene was actually thought up by Matthew McConaughey and only ended up in the movie by chance. Watch him explain it below:

The scene sees McConaughey's Mark Hanna sat in a restaurant opposite Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Hanna offers Belfort some insight into how the industry works, telling him: "The secret is cocaine and hookers."

After doling out the advice, Hanna starts to beat on his chest and hum, encouraging Belfort to join him, which he does - somewhat awkwardly.

And, although it would go on to be one of the movie's most memorable moments, it was never supposed to be in the film at all.

Paramount Pictures

In an interview posted to his YouTube channel, McConaughey said the little ritual was simply something he did as a way to relax before scenes, but co-star Leonardo DiCaprio liked it and thought it might look good in the flick.

Talking about the decision, McConaughey said: "The actual chant, that is something I'll do not only in this film but before scenes in a lot of films.

"I'll come up with a different tune and it's a relaxation tool for me. It's musical, so it gets me out of my head because I don't want to be thinking as an actor, I want to be doing.

" It keeps my voice low and my instrument loose. I was doing it before every take and then on 'action,' I'd go to do the scene.

Paramount Pictures

"We did five takes and we have the scene, Martin [Scorsese] is ready to move on and I'm good. As we're packing up to go onto another set-up for another scene, Leonardo goes, 'What's that thing you're doing before the scene? What if we put that in the scene?'"

Scorsese agreed and the scene was reshot, this time with the chant.

Speaking about the scene on the podcast Kernels in 2017, McConaughey said: "So the next take I just did it at the beginning of the scene, but I remember thinking, 'Well, now do it at the end of the conversation to see if the young turk - who you just taught what Wall Street is all about - see if he's on the same frequency, see if he gets it.'

"And so we ended up bookending the scene with it and that was the take we used."

Topics: TV and Film, Interesting

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19