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The iconic movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” — starring Leonardo DiCaprio arsenic nan crooked, debauched stockbroker Jordan Belfort, and Margot Robbie arsenic his woman — sewage a batch of specifications wrong, insiders opportunity successful a caller docuseries.
Howie Gelfand, who partially inspired Jonah Hill’s characteristic successful nan Martin Scorsese film, exclusively told Page Six, “They conscionable made up things.”
He added, “There was ne'er a dwarf thrown. There were still plentifulness of crazy things done. Truth is alien than fiction.”
In nan three-episode Paramount+ docuseries, “The Real Wolf of Wall Street,” Belfort’s erstwhile friends and colleagues stock their experiences.
Gelfand told Page Six that erstwhile he saw nan Oscar-nominated movie successful 2013 and heard assemblage disregard it arsenic “Hollywood” exaggeration, his relative said, “If only they knew that was nan mild version!’”
He praised DiCaprio and Robbie’s performances, but said nan movie “distorted” nan story, and made it into a “fairy tale, for Hollywood.”
Gelfand and Ross Portenoy were some puerility friends pinch Belfort, now 64.
Belfort lived for illustration a stone prima — drugs, yachts, activity workers, lavish parties — earlier he served 22 months successful situation for securities fraud, successful 1 of Wall Street’s astir notorious scandals. He was released successful 2006.
Gelfand and Portenoy some worked astatine his brokerage house, Stratton Oakmont, which was founded successful 1989 and shuttered successful 1996, aft respective execs were arrested.
Neither of them served clip successful prison, but Gelfand struggled pinch supplier addiction for years, and collapsed 17 cars while driving nether nan influence, he said.
Some of his erstwhile colleagues were “bad guys” who weren’t bothered by defrauding people, Gelfand told Page Six.
But location were also, “a batch of bully guys that sewage progressive pinch a bad thing. I see myself one.”
He noted, “I had to enactment anesthetized [on drugs], to do what I was doing.”
The Scorsese movie depicted Belfort’s emergence and fall, including his frat-boy agency civilization — wherever his soul circle did outrageous stunts for money and attention.
No 1 threw a dwarf for illustration nan characters successful nan movie, Gelfand noted, but 2 labor connected their bodies to a car battery, successful speech for $10,000.
They didn’t extremity up getting nan cash, because they stake they could past 10 seconds, and they had to extremity astatine eight.
When Hill’s characteristic ate a unrecorded goldfish successful beforehand of a crowd, “I americium blameworthy arsenic charged,” Gelfand told Page Six, adding that it was “not 1 of my proudest moments.”
Notably, nan movie didn’t see 1 of their “biggest vices — gambling,” he said.
However, nan Scorsese flick did get 1 item right. In a celebrated raunchy scene, DiCaprio and Robbie’s characters person activity connected a heap of money.
“Well, I wasn’t location watching Jordan and [his then-wife, Nadine Macaluso] person sex,” Portenoy told Page Six, adding that Robbie “nailed” her capacity and played Belfort’s woman “to a T.”
But, he recalled an incident erstwhile Belfort was carrying a “paper shopping bag” filled pinch “a cardinal dollars successful cash” and “boasted” that he’d conscionable had activity connected apical of “three cardinal dollars.”
Gelfand, who has been sober for 14 years and now useful successful nan recreation industry, said that he thinks Scorsese’s adjunct called him erstwhile they were making nan movie.
“Sadly, I was stoned for astir 15 years of my life … I was excessively stoned to partake successful anything.”
Meanwhile, Portenoy was “shocked” that nan “Goodfellas” head ne'er reached retired to him, because he took predominant location videos of Belfort and his antics. His clips are featured successful nan doc.
“I deliberation they could person utilized nan videos,” he told Page Six. “I deliberation Marty [Scorsese] would person jumped each complete it, if he knew astir it.”
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When he saw nan movie successful theaters, he “cried” watching nan segment wherever DiCaprio sank a yacht, because he was location for nan existent event.
“It was a surviving hell,” he told us.
Both of Belfort’s erstwhile friends said that nan flick romanticized him excessively much. But, they don’t person sick will towards anyone involved.
“I’m a large instrumentality of Martin Scorsese’s,” said Gelfand. “I thought he made a awesome movie.”
But, he noted, “The value to salary for group who were genuinely progressive successful it … was ne'er touched upon.”
Many group progressive successful nan existent events “never recovered,” he said. “Thank God I didn’t die.”
“The Real Wolf of Wall Street” is now streaming connected Paramount+.
