Martin Scorsese saved the ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ yacht scene.
“All sorts of things in…including the kitchen sink…are in this film,” said screenwriter Terence Winter.
Martin Scorsese was determined that The Wolf of Wall Street would have a sinking ship on screen.
The blockbuster, Oscar-nominated 2013 film, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio as real-life, disgraced stockbroker Jordan Belfort, originally ran for a whopping four hours. While the film was eventually cut to 180 minutes, screenwriter Terence Winter revealed that Scorsese refused to cut an expensive yacht sequence.
“There [the script] was so long, you know, the fear was that we’d have to cut things down — like the sequence where the boat sinks and they’re rescued at sea,” Winter told The Hollywood Reporter. “It was on the chopping block the longest because it was so wild and so expensive. To his credit, Marty just kept fighting and said, ‘We to have to have that. I have to have that.’”
The scene includes Belfort (DiCaprio) and his wife Naomi (Margot Robbie) who must be rescued by helicopter as they sail from Italy to Monaco in a desperate attempt to stop federal investigators from accessing bank accounts.
“There was originally a four-hour cut of this movie and it was just way more insane — if you can believe there was room for one,” continued Emmy-winner Winter. “But I was really excited that everything got in there. There’s all sorts of things in this movie…including the kitchen sink. I couldn’t have been happier with it.”
Acclaimed editor and longtime Scorsese collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker previously told IndieWire that the four-hour cut is loved by those who have seen it, and Scorsese even considered publishing it in two parts. “Well, we’ve thought about it,” Schoonmaker said. “But the film doesn’t work in two parts. It has to have a certain arc.”
Actress Robbie recently revealed that the overnight success of The Wolf of Wall Street was overwhelming at times, saying: “Something happened in those early stages and it was all pretty awful. I remember saying to my mother, ‘I don’t think I want to do that.’ And she just looked at me with a totally straight face and said, ‘Honey, I think it’s too late not to do it.’ It was then that I realized that the only way forward is to go.”
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https://www.indiewire.com/2022/11/martin-scorsese-saved-wolf-of-wall-street-yacht-scene-1234783092/ Martin Scorsese saved the ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ yacht scene.
