The film depicted Belfort and his inner circle using Quaaludes and cocaine at work regularly – however, Belfort says that his real-life drug use was far worse, admitting that it ‘spiralled out of control’ and that, at the end of his career as a stockbroker, he was a regular user of ‘22 different drugs’. Fairly easy for users to obtain for recreational use, Quaaludes quickly became one of the most commonly abused substances in history. Quaaludes were a medication first sold as a sleeping aid, though users quickly found that the drug-induced a euphoric high before its intended sedative properties kicked in. Those who have seen The Wolf Of Wall Street will likely remember the many scenes depicting Belfort’s use of various drugs throughout his career, most prominently the sequence in which he overdoses on Quaaludes and crashes his car whilst half-paralyzed (which did, indeed, happen in reality). However, there were some inaccuracies between the truth and the 2013 film. did a fantastic job at capturing the atmosphere at his brokerage house Stratton Oakmont, telling London Real in 2019 that ‘the camaraderie, the insanity’ in the film was accurately portrayed. Jordan Belfort has previously stated that he feels Scorsese, DiCaprio and co. How Much Of The Wolf Of Wall Street Is True?Ĭonsidering its source material, it’s understandable that audiences might take the statement ‘Based on a true story’ at face value – and, as it turns out, The Wolf Of Wall Street is nearly entirely historically accurate.
However, with the book released in 2007 and Scorsese’s adaptation arriving six years later, there’s no doubt been plenty of changes in Belfort’s life and career in the years since. The film itself is famously based on Jordan Belfort’s memoirs. At the time, the one on everybody’s lips was ‘Could this be the performance that finally wins DiCaprio his Best Actor Oscar?’ (It wasn’t, of course), though ‘Where is the real Jordan Belfort now?’ certainly came a close second. Long after the credits rolled on this fantastic black comedy, following the life and career of famed and shamed stockbroker Jordan Belfort, audiences were left with further questions. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a decade since Leonardo Di Caprio enthralled audiences across the world with his portrayal of The Wolf Of Wall Street in the instant modern classic by Martin Scorsese.