Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Leonardo DiCaprio As A Wall Street Wolf

Red Granite chairman/CEO Riza Aziz and vice chairman Joey McFarland have acquired rights to Jordan Belfort's memoir The Wolf of Wall Street. Boyish hollywoodteur Leonardo DiCaprio is set to produce with Jennifer Killoran's Appian Way and Alexandra Milchan's EMJAG Productions.

Having long wanted to play Belfort, DiCaprio has approached directors Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott to direct the film. The project had been set at Warner Bros and nearly got made several years ago, but a tug of war between hollywoodteurs, Warner Bros and Paramount, where Scorsese has his overall deal, led them to collaborate on Shutter Island instead.

The Wolf screenplay was written by Terence Winter, the executive producer of The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire. The drama chronicles Belfort's rise and fall on Wall Street, a run marked by a hard-partying lifestyle, drug addiction, a 1998 indictment for securities fraud and money laundering and a subsequent 22-month federal prison stretch. Today with 14 years of sobriety, Belfort is a motivational speaker.

Red Granite's intention is to produce four to five films each year. Red Granite most recently completed the Jennifer Westfelt-directed Friends with Kids, which stars Jon Hamm, Megan Fox, Westfeldt, Kristin Wiig and Adam Scott.

No comments:

Post a Comment