Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio Officially on for THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

As of today, director Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are officially signed on to make another movie they've been wanting to do together called The Wolf of Wall Street. The film is based on the memoir by Jordan Belfort and tells the story of "his days as a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering and served a 22-month federal prison stretch."

I love watching the films of Scorsese and DiCaprio. They're a great team of awesome talent that knows how to make solidly amazing films. I expect nothing less but complete greatness from these guys, and I'm sure they'll bring it with their fifth collaboration. 

Executive producer and writer of HBO's The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, Terence Winter, wrote the script for the movie. For those of you not familiar with they guy, the movie is based off of his coming "of age on Wall Street in the ’80s and early ’90s, and his success was undermined by the decadence fueled by the endless money he made in New York at that time. Though a period piece, this tale is all about extravant excess and that certainly resonates with those who mistrust of Wall Street excess after the 2008 financial collapse that was also based on greed."

Like anything Scorsese does, I'm excited to see how this new flick turns out. Do you think this is one of those films that will blow up at the Oscars?

Here's the detailed description of the book:

By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could, on drugs, sex, and international globe-trotting. From the binge that sank a 170-foot motor yacht, crashed a Gulfstream jet, and ran up a $700,000 hotel tab, to the wife and kids who waited for him at home, and the fast-talking, hard-partying young stockbrokers who called him king and did his bidding, here, in his own inimitable words, is the story of the ill-fated genius they called…

In the 1990s Jordan Belfort, former kingpin of the notorious investment firm Stratton Oakmont, became one of the most infamous names in American finance: a brilliant, conniving stock-chopper who led his merry mob on a wild ride out of the canyons of Wall Street and into a massive office on Long Island. Now, in this astounding and hilarious tell-all autobiography, Belfort narrates a story of greed, power, and excess no one could invent.

Reputedly the prototype for the film Boiler Room, Stratton Oakmont turned microcap investing into a wickedly lucrative game as Belfort’s hyped-up, coked-out brokers browbeat clients into stock buys that were guaranteed to earn obscene profits–for the house. But an insatiable appetite for debauchery, questionable tactics, and a fateful partnership with a breakout shoe designer named Steve Madden would land Belfort on both sides of the law and into a harrowing darkness all his own. 

From the stormy relationship Belfort shared with his model-wife as they ran a madcap household that included two young children, a full-time staff of twenty-two, a pair of bodyguards, and hidden cameras everywhere—even as the SEC and FBI zeroed in on them—to the unbridled hedonism of his office life, here is the extraordinary story of an ordinary guy who went from hustling Italian ices at sixteen to making hundreds of millions. Until it all came crashing down…

Here's the full press release making the announcment:

Los Angeles, CA – April 19, 2012 – Martin Scorsese will direct “The Wolf of Wall Street” starring Leonardo DiCraprio. The deal, which brings Scorsese and DiCaprio together for their fifth feature collaboration, was made official today.

Red Granite Pictures owns the rights to Jordan Belfort’s best-selling memoir The Wolf of Wall Street, on which the film is based. Red Granite principals Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland are producing along with Leonardo DiCaprio (Appian Way), Martin Scorsese and Emma Koskoff (Sikelia Productions) and Alexandra Milchan (EMJAG Productions). Irwin Winkler and Georgia Kacandes will executive produce.

Leonardo DiCaprio will star as Jordan Belfort – the ‘Wolf of Wall Street.’

Terence Winter (“The Sopranos,” “Boardwalk Empire”) adapted the screenplay, which chronicles Belfort’s dramatic rise and fall on Wall Street, along with his hard-partying lifestyle and tumultuous personal life, which included drug and alcohol addiction.

“Everything about this film plays to Martin Scorsese’s genius and visionary storytelling, said Riza Aziz. “At its heart, ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ is about the rise of new ‘modern’ gangsters in New York. Wall Street gangsters that redefined excess, greed and arrogance. We’re excited to see Mr. Scorsese take the reins of this visceral, tumultuous ride.”

“All of us at Appian Way are thrilled to collaborate, once again, with Martin Scorsese,” said Jennifer Killoran, partner in Appian Way. “With Martin’s unique vision and our partnership with Red Granite Pictures and EMJAG, we are excited to bring this story to film.”

Production on “The Wolf of Wall Street” is slated to begin in August in New York.

With a celebrated career now spanning six decades, Martin Scorsese is one of the most influential filmmakers in cinema history. A cinematic master, his works include such iconic films as “Goodfellas,” “Taxi Driver,” “Mean Streets,” “Raging Bull,” “Casino,” “Gangs of New York,” “The Aviator,” “Shutter Island,” and “The Departed.”

The acclaimed director, producer and screenwriter is one of the most decorated filmmakers of all time and continues to delight critics and audiences alike with his most recent work, “Hugo,” a multiple Academy Award® winning film that not only marked the director’s first foray into 3D but is also his first adventure film for all the family. Scorsese has also made a number of ground-breaking documentaries including celebrated music films “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan,” “Shine a Light” and “George Harrison: Living in the Material World.”

He was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Director seven times before earning one in 2007 for The Departed. Scorsese’s additional awards and honors include the Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival (1995), the AFI Life Achievement Award (1997), the Honoree at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 25th Gala Tribute (1998), the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award (2003), The Kennedy Center Honors (2007) and the HFPA Cecil B. DeMille Award (2010).

Scorsese is the founder and chair of The Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of motion picture history. In 2007 Scorsese launched the World Cinema Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of neglected films from around the world, with special attention paid to those developing countries lacking the financial and technical resources to do the work themselves. Scorsese is the founder and chair.

Martin Scorsese is represented by WME and manager Rick Yorn. Yorn also represents Leonardo DiCaprio. David Boyle of Red Granite Pictures negotiated both Scorsese and DiCaprio’s deal on behalf of the company while Channing Johnson of Loeb & Loeb oversaw the book and script rights acquisition for Red Granite.