It’s no secret that Hollywood has a tendency to glamorize real life into action-paced, yet fictionalized retellings that often pander to audiences rather than honor truth. With films that contain especially controversial or shocking content, audiences may feel more wary about potential exaggerations and fudging of truths. One such film that invites this questioning isThe Wolf of Wall Street(2013), with its depictions of raunchy office parties, mind-boggling wealth and equally reckless management thereof, and rather extreme characterizations. So what is the true storybehind the now famous and praised film? Let’s delve into and sort out fact and fiction.
The Real Jordan Belfort
In the 2013 film,The Wolf of Wall Street,we meet a young Jordan Belfort at a crossroads in his budding career. His past ventures have not succeeded, leading him to take a job as a penny stockbroker in Long Island. He’s a guy that keeps his head down and his voice low, who dutifully comes home to his wife after a day of making an honest living. This naive version of Belfort quickly evaporates as he becomes embroiled in fraudulent schemes and an increasingly profligate lifestyle; but was Belfort ever the redeemable character we meet in these opening scenes? Jordan Belfort was born to two modestly successful accountants in Queens, New York. He enjoyed a traditional upbringing, and met his future first wife while attending Bayside High School. This high school sweetheart is restyled in the film as Cristin Milioti’s Teresa Petrillo.
The ambition that would later consume Belfort, was burgeoning even early on. The summer after high school, Belfort and his friend profited a whopping $20,000 from simply selling Italian Ices on the beach. This young man had an evident knack for sales and admirable drive, but even he nearly missed his calling in business. Belfort initially enrolled in college at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, a dream that died on the very first day of class. The professor warned that dentistry was no longer a particularly profitable field, and surely not suitable for anyone just looking to get rich. Belfort did not need to hear more on this front, and promptly dropped the program.
This brings us to where we meet Belfort in the film. Belfort innately possesses something that the other penny stockbrokers do not. His assertive confidence and manufactured gravitas lures many shareholders into ill-advised investments. Enjoying high commission rates from these sales, Belfort is immediately a rising star, priming the environment for his rise as a leader in the field. Before long, Belfort launches his own enterprise, and the infamous Stratton Oakmont is born.
The rapid rise of Stratton Oakmont seemingly changes the nature of Belfort’s character, as per the film. Director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Terence Winter poise Teresa Petrillo as a sort of last link between the old, more virtuous Belfort, and the money hungry libertine we see from then on. As Belfort sheds the last of his connections to his previous life, he also becomes evermore embroiled in the indulgences and arguable depravities of life among the top one percent.
What was this lifestyle really like?According to Belfort, it was just like the movie, which of course was based on his own book. According to some, such as the FBI detective that primarily pursued Belfort, the author exaggerated the grandeur of and reverence paid to his character in real life. Even former associates and close friends of Belfort confirm that no one used to actually call him “The Wolf” and that this title was largely self-imposed. As for the scandalous parties and strange office practices, it seems that most of what is portrayed on screen is fairly accurate. While the dwarf tossing scene is entirely fiction, a detail even Belfort warned was too outlandish, the employees of Stratton Oakmont really did engage in copious amounts of drug consumption and solicitation of sex work. This lifestyle and office culture was not unique to Belfort’s firm, however, as this culture excited in varying degrees at many such offices.
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Jonah Hill’s “Donnie Azoff” Was a Mix of Real-Life Collaborators and Friends
Donnie Azoff, portrayed by Jonah Hill, was one of themore fictionalized characters in the story. Belfort did have a close friend and business associate named Donny Porush, a man who really was married to his cousin, frequently had relations with sex workers; introduced Steven Madden into the business, and swallowed a coworker’s goldfish. Other than this, much of his character is embellished, or simply subject to having the stories of less significant figures woven into his own. He did not sell children’s furniture, nor did he plead for a job with Belfort after seeing how much he could make. Porush ultimately served twenty months in prison.
Steve Madden was likewise involved in Stratton Oakmont, though as less of a hapless and inadvertent collaborator as he is portrayed in the movie. In reality, the renowned shoe designer willfully and extensively colluded with Belfort and his associates, eventually being sentenced to over three years in prison.
Like Denise Lombardo, Belfort’s second wife, Nadine Caridi, is renamed in the movie adaptation. Margot Robbie embodies Nadine under the name of Naomi Lapaglia, effectively capturing the allure of this Bay Ridge-raised beauty. The film also captured, in part, the abusive nature of the relationship, a topic which Caridi delves into on her Tik Tok page. Her recounting of the relationship tells of a relationship that was far more complex than in the on-screen portrayal, with Belfort essentially stalking and love-bombing Caridi, using highly manipulative tactics throughout the courtship and eventually the marriage. She implies on her page that the film is mostly accurate from Belfort’s point of view, but that her character was rather simplified. She prides herself on the fact that she “walked away from the marriage with nothing”.
How Belfort’s Downfall Really Played Out
Much like in the film, Belfort’s downfall came about when the SEC began to investigate trading practices, leading to Belfort being stripped of his shares in the company and consequently, the exacerbation of his drug habit. Once it became clear that his former collaborators were working with the FBI on the money laundering charges, Belfort agreed to cooperate with the investigation. One detail that has been fictionalized is the attempt at bribing FBI agents aboard his yacht, when Belfort actually had no interactions with the lead agents until much later in the story. Jordan Belfort ultimately served just under two years of his four-year sentence, paying over $110,000,000 in restitution to victims.
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Where Are They Now?
Having served his time, albeit a relatively reduced sentence, on account of his cooperation with the FBI’s investigation, Jordan Belfort is now a free man. Following his release from prison, he penned his autobiography, the apt title of which would later be shared with the film. Today, one may find him giving motivational speeches or creating content on Tik Tok, a platform that he uses primarily for opinion pieces and to respond to fans. Yes, Jordan Belfort, a man who defrauded countless people out of their life’s savings, has quite a following of young men that admire and look up to his former lifestyle. Subsequently,some discourse has been hadon whether the entire point ofThe Wolf of Wall Street, a cautionary tale about greed and excess, may have gone overan entire demographic’s heads.
Nadine Caridi,now named Nadine Macaluso, is a licensed clinical psychologist, and is likewise active on Tik Tok. She, on the other hand, uses the platform to share her insights as a clinician and to tell her own truth about her relationship with Belfort, using the relationship as a real life example of the sort of psychologically harmful relationships women can become trapped in. Contrastingly, Belfort’s first wife is entirely out of the media’s scrutinizing gaze, consistently declining to comment and maintaining a private life.
