Leo DiCaprio’s The Wolf of Wall Street, which opened on Dec. 25 and has grossed about $34 million to date, has divided critics. Is it a ludicrously funny romp about greed and decadence, or does it glorify the very abysmal things it depicts?
You be the judge.
However, DiCaprio, ever the perfectionist, really did spend time on Wall Street, on trading floors, observing the type of people who populate the film.
“I wasn’t incognito. I couldn’t be. I was there, walking around,” he told us, admitting that he’s too tall and too famous to really be undercover.
So did he meet real-life Jordan Belforts, guys for whom money is everything? Sure. But, says DiCaprio, “There’s a lot of guys that are doing a lot of great stuff and are responsible.”
We did have to tell DiCaprio that even though he’s mighty impressive as Belfort, we kept thinking of him as his pal Kate Winslet has described him in interviews: “farty Leo.” That elicited deep belly laughs from DiCaprio, who co-starred with Winslet in Titanic.
“She never says that to my face. She’s the greatest person. She’s so genuine. I love that girl. She has a brand-new baby and is in love,” he says of Winslet, who just gave birth to her third child, son Bear.