Martin Scorsese’s stupendously excessive The Wolf of Wall Street is still causing a little bit of controversy over the moral grounding that may or may not be embedded in the film’s storyline. And if you’re one of those who thinks that the film is glorifying the monstrous behavior of its central entrepreneur Jordan Belfort, you might be happy to know that Belfort isn’t profiting from the film’s success in any way other than word of mouth. At least, that’s what he says, and we can all believe every word out of Belfort’s mouth, right?
He recently took to his Facebook page to clear up any misunderstandings about what kind of money he would be making from the film. (We can only assume his Facebook page will one day get adapted into a slightly less successful film.) Here it is in his words.
"For the record, I am not turning over 50% of the profits of the books and the movie, which was what the government had wanted me to do. Instead, I insisted on turning over 100% of the profits of both books and the movie, which is to say, I am not making a single dime on any of this. This should amount to countless millions of dollars and hopefully be more than enough to pay back anyone who is still out there...So, again, for the record: I am not making any royalties off the film or the books, and I am totally content with that. My income comes from new life, which is far better than my old one. (Although I will admit the Quaaludes were kind of fun, at least in the beginning. Thankfully, they're illegal! and impossible to find!)
A cursory glance at the comments beneath this post show that Belfort certainly does have his share of followers that do not demonize him at all for bilking millions from unsuspecting people. I’m sure he isn’t stupid enough to think that not making money off of this movie actually pays back the people whose lives he ruined in the 1990s, but whatever it takes to sleep easy at night, I guess. And even though Wolf took in around $41 million in its first week of release and will probably rake in quite a bit more in this weak month of releases, I seriously doubt Belfort’s take from that would have been "countless millions of dollars." In any case, power to him for living a life of presumed innocence now.
Besides a solid box office opening, Wolf is distinctive in an entirely different way. According to Slashfilm, we now know that Scorsese’s film has completely shattered the record for the most times the word "fuck" appears in a narrative film. The F-bomb was dropped 506 times during its 3-hour runtime, topping previous title holder Summer of Sam, the 1999 Spike Lee movie that used the word 435 times. Scorsese’s next couple of fuck-filled movies are Casino, with 422, and Goodfellas, with 300.
And now for something a little less blue in nature, Indiewire revealed a handful of new stills from the film, which you can find below. Did you guys like the film as much as Eric did?
