Despite lawsuits threatening the production of Martin Scorsese‘s next feature The Wolf of Wall Street, the cameras have begun to roll as evidenced by the newly released set photos. They show Leonardo DiCaprio in character as Jordan Belfort, a Wall Street trader who became embroiled in stock market manipulation during the 1990s.
The pics aren’t particularly exciting and as you might expect it’s just Leonardo DiCaprio walking on Wall Street, but I’m glad to see production getting underway. It’s a project that promises to be one of Scorsese’s most energetic and exciting films and it is one of the most interesting ensembles that Scorsese has ever put together. The director will be recognising the talents of actors who are reinventing their image (Matthew McConaughey) and those who are wanting to expand their horizons (Jonah Hill, Jean Dujardin, Kyle Chandler).
The recent scene descriptions also build up the promise of seeing Scorsese return to a dark underworld that is simultaneously attractive and abhorrent. Since Casino Scorsese’s choice of projects has seemed to gravitate toward the stately, telling elegantly mounted period stories with grand scope which lacked the rough and ready danger of his previous work.
Even the quasi-horror of Shutter Island felt stately and portentous. However, his last film, the exquisite Hugo, was the tipping point of this new stylistic direction and with Scorsese’s innovative use of 3D it was clear that he had reached the pinnacle of it.
The Wolf of Wall Street sounds like he his turning back to the darker, scruffier world of Goodfellas and Taxi Driver with reported scenes of explicit sex, strippers and heavy cocaine use playing a major part of the script. No filmmaker has been better than Scorsese at showing the screaming dark underbelly of New York and with this film he’s going into an area of his beloved city that he has not yet explored.
Although the world of Wall Street isn’t unique on film, the brutal excesses of Wall Street yuppies is perfect territory for Scorsese and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.
The Wolf of Wall Street is currently shooting and is set for release sometime next year.
Source: Collider
