No one's arguing that Leonardo DiCaprio is a less-than-amazing actor. But most of the time, actors are required to stick to a script, especially when working with big names in Hollywood.
After all, most directors and producers have specific ideas about how they want things done. But when it came to 'The Wolf of Wall Street,' director Martin Scorsese gave the cast a bit of freedom to improvise.
It probably helped that Leonardo DiCaprio himself was also one of the movie's producers. That credit gives an actor a bit of pull. And Leo's improvising led to one of the most impactful and seamless scenes in the whole film.
As IMDb highlights, the scene where Jordan (Leonardo DiCaprio) was a bit tipsy and was having trouble getting into his car was totally off the cuff. Leo showed up to set that day and winged it, stumbling his way through the scene and getting the perfect shot.
To be fair, getting into a Lamborghini can be a challenge to begin with. So his flopping around and faking at being under the influence totally made sense (and earned a few laughs, too).
The fact that Leo didn't plan ahead for the scene is pretty neat. While there was, presumably, a script somewhere, the cast threw it out the window and let Leo do that thing where he opened the car door with his foot.
Then again, the production did invest a lot of time, energy, and funds in wrecking Jordan's car later. The Lamborghini Countach actually crashed, which helped make the scene all the more real.
Clearly, Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, and the rest of the cast (which also featured famous names like Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill, and more) did their best to be authentic and true to their characters.
But fans could argue that an improvised scene is always a bit more effective than something super-scripted. When it's closer to real life, it's easier for viewers to dive in. And dive in they did; 'Wolf of Wall Street' earned tons of attention for its drama, controversy, and stellar acting.
Which brings us to another point: Matthew McConaughey also went off script for plenty of his scenes. In fact, he used his acting chops to shape his character and really went in his own direction to support the storyline.
The star-powered cast, combined with Martin Scorsese at the helm, meant a pretty successful film. Still, stars like Margot Robbie didn't make quite as much cash from the movie as fans thought they would.