“Wolf Of Wall Street” (2013)
Scorsese’s three-hour examination of Jordan Belfort’s hedonistic lifestyle as a corrupt Wall Street stockbroker was met with a surplus of controversy. The director and DiCaprio, who co-produced “The Wolf of Wall Street” and had been trying to make it since 2007, were met with criticism for glorifying the advantages of Belfort’s millionaire perks and paying too little attention to countless individuals he swindled. The film no doubt treads a fine line between glorification and true representation, but no matter which side of the argument anyone takes, there were a few no-duh points everyone agreed on. Terence Winter’s adaptation of Belfort’s memoir is a sizzling, drug-fueled engine of quotable dialogue and unforgettable scenarios, Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie turned in sensational, revelatory performances as Belfort’s best friend Donnie Azoff and wife Naomi, and DiCaprio tapped into a hitherto unknown source to peel yet another remarkable layer of his craft. The evolution of Belfort as an aspiring Wall Street broker who only jerks off three or four times a week to the Quaalude-popping greed-riddled monster who beats his own wife becomes a master class acting lesson in DiCaprio’s hands. It’s one of the actor’s most physical performances to date (before “The Revenant,” that is), one in which we’re introduced to a whole new array of facial expressions and amped ways of registering intensity. Animalistic, decadent and with pitch-dark comic overtones, DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort has various shades of Frank Abagnale, Frank Wheeler, Billy Costigan and even Calvin Candie, but is very much a distinct character. For all the controversial debates it spurred, the most blatantly obvious point “The Wolf of Wall Street” made is that in Leonardo DiCaprio, we have one of the greatest actors working today.
There’s very little separating greatness from excellence in DiCaprio’s exemplary oeuvre, which is to say that many of his other roles were considered for this list. He teamed up with another top-class director in Christopher Nolan for “Inception,” but as great as he is in it, he’s no greater than the rest of the rock solid ensemble. In 2008, before they could get ‘Wolf’ off the ground, DiCaprio and Scorsese teamed up for the psychological mind-bender “Shutter Island,” another stellar turn that just fell slightly short of being considered essential. Early turns in “The Basketball Diaries” and “The Beach” got an early start on shredding the actor’s innocent veneer, but neither felt quite right alongside the 10 above. Ditto his Oscar-nominated turn as Danny Archer in “Blood Diamond.” Even when certain films failed to meet critical expectation —as was the case with “J. Edgar,” “The Great Gatsby” and “The Man In The Iron Mask“— DiCaprio’s performances could be singled out as one of the few great things to come out of them.
Everyone’s got a favorite DiCaprio performance —my personal favorite is probably Frank Wheeler, FYI— so now it’s time to hand off the reins to you, dear Playlist readers. Favorite performance? What’s his best in a Scorsese movie? Got objections to my Top 10? You know where to go.
