Talking about a movie's cast isn't Spoiling? The Wolf of Wall Street.

[UTUSN]

Which way to go with this. As a Liberal Arts stereotype (dilletante wannabe writer) I’m used to writing critiques of whatever off the top of the head without actual scholarship or in-depth preparation, with an air of thinking I know what I’m talking about. Then again, I bolster this façade when I can detect some literary gimmicks like symbolism, parallels, foreshadowing, character development, diction, blah de blah. Otoh, I am no movie or other pop culture buff, but this movie, after which I checked the IMDb reviews and comments, brief as they were, which zeroed in on minutiae about anachronistic cop car models and the trivia and goofs about who slapped who too much for real, gave me the definite idea that really pop culture may have always passed me by but is now certainly not something I should even venture an opinion on.

Clue to me, what I have always actually buzzed with, as opposed to the actual movies, are the Oscars and other superficial circuses of meaningless competitions for “awards.” I don’t know why they fascinate me, something to do with watching the “real” actor/humans vs their acting, watching them react to seeing themselves on the screen? Sort of how I don't follow soccer except at World Cup time.

The next angle is what movies have drawn me to the actual theater with what frequency: *Gladiator 2000, Master & Commander 2003, Farenheit 9/11, The Passion of the Christ 2004 (for politics), *Apocalypto 2006, *Black Swan 2010, *Les Miserables 2012, Gatsby 2013, and now Wolf/Wall Street, 2014. (The * marked ones are the ones I really liked and a lot.)

So talking about casting is not Spoilers? since it’s all there everywhere. The first thing that gave me a sour taste was the sight of McCONAUGHEY. I’ve never seen anything with him featured and whatever snippets of him on yak shows are just repellant to me, into Nic CAGE territory. I was relieved that the McCON was gone quick. I had had a bit of a let down with Leo in Gatsby, and was prepared to give him space here, sort of a nice fellow who gets passed over for awards, which chance lasted well into this flick, but back to that later. Then the rest of the cast around Leo just seemed lightweights, strange to see the IMDb comments about how talented and big scale they apparently are which has passed me by. It was a delight to recognize Joanna LUMLEY (Patsy from AbFab), but a revolting repugnance to see Bo DIETL, the epitome for me IRL of the wingnut blustering bully wannabe-know-it-all.

The only preparation I had was SCORCESE with LETTERMAN last night, which is probably what made me go see it, his self-basking like this was another masterpiece. Maybe it is, I can’t tell anymore, maybe never could. Maybe my Nic CAGE antipathy is their family thing. I saw Mean Streets and Goodfellas back when and liked them lots, but lost interest in the Mafia (what I regard as: ) glorification after that. And I was kneejerk politically irritated by SCORCESE’s escorting Red Scare KAZAN onto an awards stage. And the SCALIA arrogance seems to beam out of SCORCESE, too.

Back to Leo, I went there in his corner I swear and stayed there very far into the whole deal, but then just started getting the feeling that he and the rest of this scripting was look-at-me-I’m-“ACTING”. Starting with just my dislike for just about all of the characters, their not being characters I want to know more about, no give-a-“f***” to use one of their staple words. And Leo in Gangs of New York was authentic seeming, less so in Aviator and Gatsby, and here it was look-I-can-almost-do-a-NICHOLSON-face and in all these it’s like his movies now have to be gigantic productions, making it more of an issue whether he himself is a big enough human in the tools of voice and presence and body to dominate. The baby face has got some lines but the structure is still baby. Chicken legs, no Gladiator here or even Joaquin Commodus. No William HOLDEN narrating in Sunset Boulevard. It seemed like the rest of the casting had had to be downscaled in charisma to build him up the more?

There have been NICHOLSON and PACINO that I saw more of their movies than of other actors, not because of them but because they seemed to be in the movies I wanted to see, and without looking for him, I seem to have given Leo more following than I intended.

Dang, I’m so superficial: On this level of mine, way better totally for me that Leo gets the prize than McCONAUGHEY. Well, when the credits rolled, which I stayed for to verify it was Patsy from AbFab, hmmm, there was Leo’s name as Producer with SCORCESE, and after that the IMDb bit that the budget was ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS. So Leo is no underdog in the biz, eh?

[NYC_SKP]

1. LOL @ "look-at-me-I’m-“ACTING”

I feel the same way about the little guy, I just don't care for Leo in any of his roles.

Made a lot of money though, and money, not talent, gets you Producer status, even with Scorcese.

[UTUSN]

2. How MEAN!!!!!!!!!1 Haha. n/t

[jakeXT]

3. Here is something about Margot Robbie's casting

...

As if those demands weren’t daunting enough, Robbie had met with Lewis before the audition, and Lewis had seen what she was planning to wear: jeans and a shirt, her usual look. “Ellen said, ‘No, no, no, what else do you have with you?’” Robbie remembers. Her answer: Nothing. Lewis sent her to SoHo, and told her to buy the highest heels she could find, the tightest dress she could squeeze into, and a push-up bra. “I never dress like that, ever, but I thought, ‘Just do what she says,’” Robbie continues.

By the time she walked into the audition room, her feet were sore, and she thought she looked ridiculous. She didn’t think, “Oh my God, I’m walking into a room with Marty and Leo.” She was just thinking, “Don’t trip, don’t trip.”

The three chit-chatted. “After 10 minutes of letting them know what the weather forecast was for the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia,” where she had been raised, Robbie says, they launched into an audition scene, Jordan and Naomi’s first date. It was rocky: DiCaprio began improvising, which Robbie didn’t pick up on; she thought he was talking to her, not her character. She started panicking, because she hadn’t improvised since her high-school drama class. Trying it now, with DiCaprio, in front of Scorsese, “was a little intimidating, to say the least,” Robbie says. “I pretty much failed miserably.”

So when they started the second audition scene, a domestic argument, Robbie remembers thinking, “You have maybe 10 seconds left in this room; do something impressive.” She began screaming at DiCaprio, which was not in the script; he hollered back, and before she knew it, she slapped him in the face. That’s right – she smacked the star.

...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/slapping-dicaprio-was-just-the-beginning-for-margo-robbie/article16265484/

[UTUSN]

4. She and all of them were good. Yeah, IMDb mentions that she totally belted him &the crew were aghast

and waiting to see how he would react. That everybody was shocked says Leo is a bigger cheese than what I see.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. DiCaprio is often miscast, I think, because he still looks like a teenager.

He looks to me more like Justin Bieber ( ) than a classic leading man type. He's not that bad an actor but he just isn't convincing in a role that calls for machismo or even gravitas.

[UTUSN]

6. That's it. n/t

[UTUSN]

7. If this is Spoiler, STOP HERE. Talking about overall effect and the characters, not plot

Start with: Given that we know from the outset that the characters are all scumbags, fine. But usually there is some kind of redemption, or at least, comeuppance.

Next, the charisma factor is next to zilch, such that there is not even that to make the scumbagginess appealing. These are nobody we care about, most of us not being so material and greedy that we're not that impressed with the excesses either of lucre or carnality that the characters indulge in.

But finally, given the absence of redemption or comeuppance: In high drama or tragedy, we FEEL when the characters either win or lose. Here the characters lose in unimaginable extents, materially and presumably emotionally, but NOTHING CHANGES. Back to Square 1.