Leonardo DiCaprio will star in The Wolf Of Wall Street for new LA-based Red Granite Pictures, based on the memoir of the convicted fraudster turned motivational speaker Jordan Belfort.
DiCaprio’s Appian Way and Alexandra Milchan’s EMJAG Productions will produce with Red Granite chairman and CEO Riza Aziz and vice-chairman Joey McFarland, who announced this week they are launching a sales division with Danny Lerner and Christian Mercuri from Nu Image.
Terence Winter, whose credits include The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, wrote the screenplay, which chronicles Belfort’s dramatic rise and fall on Wall Street, his hard-partying and drug addiction. Red Granite acquired rights to the book. The project was previously set up at Warner Bros but fell apart.
Belfort was indicted in 1998 for securities fraud and money laundering and spent 22 months in federal prison. He sobered up and became a motivational speaker and corporate trainer while also working with the Salvation Army and MaAfrika Tikkun.
“There is no better time to tell Jordan Belfort’s amazing story,” Jennifer Killoran of Appian Way said. “The entire Appian Way team is excited to partner with Red Granite and EMJAG on The Wolf Of Wall Street, and look forward to a successful collaboration.”
“The Wolf Of Wall Street is an exciting and highly commercial project that deals with the all too familiar themes of greed, corruption and finally, redemption,” Aziz said. “We’re thrilled to partner with Leonardo DiCaprio and Alexandra Milchan and their respective producing teams to bring this incredibly entertaining story to life on the big screen for the first time.”
McFarland added: “The Wolf Of Wall Street perfectly exemplifies the type of film Red Granite intends to produce and the calibre of partners we hope to work alongside and form strong relationships with.”
Leonardo DiCaprio is represented by Rick Yorn. Red Granite is represented by law firm Loeb & Loeb and management firm Nigro Karlin Segal & Feldstein LLP.
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