Seeing as it’s been confirmed that Martin Scorsese’s next film, The Wolf of Wall Street, is going to start shooting in August, the clock is starting to tick when it comes to getting the cast together. Already we know the obvious part, that frequent Scorsese collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio is going to star as the titular bad boy investor. And we also have word that intriguing supporting players Jonah Hill and Kyle Chandler have signed on as DiCaprio’s wing man and the FBI agent trying to take him down, respectively. But Scorsese’s job doesn’t stop with just a recruiting of three big names. Variety is reporting that casting on the film has continued, and Scorsese is close to landing a fourth big name as well.
The latest star looking to join this 80s-set tale is French actor Jean Dujardin. He’s said to be negotiating for the role of Jean-Jacques Handali, a suave Swiss banker who helps DiCaprio’s firm launder money. As everyone saw in The Artist (or in any of Dujardin’s myriad French film work), he’s an actor who can definitely pull off suave. If he can just handle money believably then the part should be his.
There’s not really much indication of how many more prominent roles there are in the Terence Winter adaptation of Jordan Belfort’s memoirs that this film will be shooting from, but it seems strange that there’s been no mention of a female lead yet. Is this the curious case of a movie without a romantic element shoehorned in, or is there a possibility that The Wolf of Wall Street could become even more of an impressive ensemble before it goes in front of cameras? We’ll be sure to keep our eyes open and watch out for any additional casting news. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.