Jordan Belfort Says He’d Rather Be Played By DiCaprio Than DeVito As New Docuseries Takes Aim At ‘Wolf Of Wall Street’

Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ has spent over a decade as the defining cinematic portrait of 1990s financial excess, but the man at the center of that story is finally getting to add his own footnotes. Leonardo DiCaprio immortalized Jordan Belfort in Scorsese’s 2013 epic, portraying the former stockbroker’s rise and fall with coke addled intensity. That film turned Belfort into a kind of pop culture antihero, equal parts cautionary tale and party legend.

Now Paramount+ is revisiting the same territory from a very different angle. The streamer released the official trailer for the three part documentary event ‘The Real Wolf of Wall Street,’ which premieres Tuesday, July 14, exclusively on Paramount+, with all three episodes available to stream at launch. The series promises to expose secrets from Belfort’s life using never before seen footage and thousands of FBI documents.

That’s where the new trailer gets pointed. The footage opens with Belfort himself addressing the movie, saying “I prefer him than Danny DeVito playing me,” a cheeky jab referencing DiCaprio’s casting. It’s a wink at how differently things could have gone, and a reminder that Belfort has never been shy about commenting on his own Hollywood legacy.

The documentary doesn’t stop at lighthearted jokes about casting, though. One unnamed subject in the trailer states plainly that “what’s missing from the movie is that there is a price to pay,” with the footage cutting to dramatic shots of the FBI raiding a building. According to Paramount+, the three part series weaves in archival interviews, never before seen footage, and firsthand accounts from former members of Belfort’s inner circle.

Several key players are telling their stories for the first time, including Belfort’s ex wife, Nadine Macaluso, who was fictionalized as Naomi Lapaglia in Scorsese’s film and played by Margot Robbie. The trailer notes that Nadine’s dream of a fairytale life eventually turned into something very different. The project is produced by Maxine Productions, the outfit behind ‘Quiet on Set,’ alongside See It Now Studios, known for recent true crime docs like ‘Thirst Trap.’

There’s also real friction baked into the story. The series explores the people behind the scandal, including those who witnessed Belfort’s rise firsthand and those left dealing with the fallout once everything came crashing down. Multiple people who felt anger toward Belfort over his cooperation with the FBI were interviewed for the project as well, adding a layer of tension that the original film largely glossed over.

Belfort’s own post Wall Street life has been almost as eventful as his crimes. A judge ordered him to pay back $110 million to investors, and he had repaid $12.8 million by November 2018. He has also pivoted through the financial world since, dismissing Bitcoin in a 2018 video before reversing course in 2022 to host a crypto workshop aimed at helping attendees understand the space.

For a film that’s often accused of glamorizing the very crimes it depicted, ‘The Real Wolf of Wall Street’ seems determined to settle the score on its own terms. With Belfort poking fun at his own casting while victims and former associates finally get their say, do you think this docuseries will change how people view the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ legend, or just add another chapter to the myth?