Matthew McConaughey Tells How His Famous Scene With Leonardo DiCaprio in WOLF OF WALL STREET Came About

There are some movies that after you’ve watched them, a specific scene comes to mind when you recall it. One of those is from the 2013 Martin Scorsese-directed flick, The Wolf of Wall Street.

Before the film really dives into the tension, we get a taste of the crazy world it’s about to expose when Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Jordan Belfort sits down with Matthew McConaughey’s Mark Hanna. Mark is explaining to Jordan what he needs to do to not only survive the industry, but how to become the best.

During a recent interview with Comedy.Hubx, which was posted on Instagram (via CinemaBlend), McConaughey talked about how the end of that scene, and his chest-thumping all came to be, as it wasn’t originally in the script.

“Leonardo goes, ‘Hang on Marty.’ And goes to me, ‘What’s that thing you’re doing before the scene?’ I was doing the [thumps chest]. It was a thing I do before scenes in different rhythms to relax, get myself out of my head. Find the rhythm, you don’t come in thinking right?”

McConaughey said the chest-thumping achieves multiple things for him. In addition to allowing him to get out of his head and get over his nerves, he noted the decision to do something a little weird tends to put the crew at ease. McConaughey continued, and explained that DiCaprio liked the vibe, and suggested he add it to their scene.

“And I told him, that’s what I’m doing it for. He said, ‘What if you do that in the scene?’ And the next take is what’s in the movie.”

The rest, as they say, is history, and if you’d like a refresher, you can check out that scene below. The Wolf of Wall Street is available to watch on Paramount+.