The Wolf of Wall Street is one of Martin Scorsese's greatest films. It earned Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio Oscar nominations, introduced Margot Robbie to the world and... well, introduced naked Margot Robbie to the world. It also has one of Matthew McConaughey’s most iconic scenes, which was apparently as wild to film for the two stars as it turned out in the movie.
Matthew McConaughey doesn’t have a major role in The Wolf of Wall Street, but his big scene opposite Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the best-known moments in the film. The two are having lunch as McConaughey’s Mark Hanna lays some NSFW advice down for DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort. It turns out one part of the scene wasn’t originally scripted, and in an interview going viral on Instagram McConaughey revealed the chest-thumping was all him…
Leonardo goes, ‘Hang on Marty.’ And goes to me, ‘What’s that thing you’re doing before the scene?’ I was doing the [thumps chest]. It was a thing I do before scenes in different rhythms to relax, get myself out of my head. Find the rhythm, you don’t come in thinking right?
McConaughey said the chest-thumping achieves multiple things for him. In addition to allowing him to get out of his head and get over his nerves, he noted the decision to do something a little weird tends to put the crew at ease.
Honestly, of all the wild stuff that Matthew McConaughey has been known to do, from playing bongos naked and the like, the idea of seeing him thumping on his own chest in between takes is perhaps the tamest of them all. Still, something about seeing his co-star do that appealed to him, and it was DiCaprio who suggested that he add that to their scene. McConaughey continued…
And I told him, that’s what I’m doing it for. He said, What if you do that in the scene?’ And the next take is what’s in the movie.
The ”next take” is possibly the most well-known scene in The Wolf of Wall Street. Even if you’ve never actually seen the movie, there's a good chance you know the scene, even if it’s broken down to a meme of McConaughey and a reference to “rookie numbers.” Check out the complete scene below.
There have been a few times in Hollywood when an actor has taken control of one scene so much that it becomes the most memorable part of a movie, but it doesn’t happen often. There’s no argument that McConaughey did it here. The scene would have probably been just as memorable without the random chest-thumping, but there’s little argument that it doesn’t make the scene just that much better. Clearly Leonardo DiCaprio had a fantastic eye to be able to see this and know that it belonged in the scene. Movie fans everywhere should be thankful.
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