Heavily cut in The UAE, banned in Kenya, and clumsily criticized for its supposed glorification of Wall Street antics, Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” continues to make waves, showing that the director hasn’t slowed one bit in his ability to provoke or renovate. Scorsese has discussed the film’s controversy a million times in his awards season run-up, but what better pleasure than to let him examine it with another supremely talented director?
At a recent awards season screening, a lucky audience got the opportunity to see director Paul Thomas Anderson interview Scorsese along with his accomplished assistant director on ‘Wolf’, Adam Somner (also AD on “The Master” and most recently “Inherent Vice” for Anderson). Luckily for everyone else though, Awards Daily’s Sasha Stone was there to record the proceeding conversation—an insanely entertaining and in-depth look at shot selection, Leonardo DiCaprio’s physical comedy talents, and, of course, that relentless controversy.
“A number of people have asked me, ‘What if you had stated your position, the morality, etc.?'” explains Scorsese. “It’s a bad thing they behave this way—not behaving just in terms of the drugs and the sex; it’s the violence of the ‘confidence man,’ taking your confidence and your trust. That’s one guy here, and perhaps other guys, or it could become the entire financial establishment. That’s happened many, many times in history. So you take this as a microcosm, this kind of thinking is what it’s about.”
“I think you’re way past having to defend any of your movies,” PTA replies. “Whatever you do for us, for me, for my generation, who grew up with you, you were always The Man.” More than a few people are likely to agree with the director, but check out all three interviews below and enjoy the rest of Scorsese, Somner, and Anderson’s observations.
