Over the last three years, we have undertaken two different homages
to Martin Scorsese’s wonderful black comedy - The Wolf of Wall Street
and on both occasions worked with the real wolf, Jordan Belfort.
Pleasingly they have been hugely popular pieces.

In 2022, we returned to a dealing room to film the most challenging
of the ideas; the “I am Not Fxxxking Leaving” scene. The concept was
clear in my head, but I was wrestling with the execution, as, in a still
image, it is impossible to have both the speaker and the crowd facing
the camera. The idea of the back of Jordan’s head being at the front of
the frame had no appeal, meanwhile excluding him from the picture
altogether would weaken the narrative.

But the crowd was simple to preconceive; an energy charged orgy of
1994 brokers celebrating the defiance of their leader. I wanted explicit
references to the excesses of the era and the film and this demanded a
testosterone jammed dealing floor hosting flying dollars, ticker tape,
rubber dolls, call girls and marching bands. I always think that it is
counter intuitive to downplay parody. We even managed to sneak in a
Steve Madden shoe box.

The trick with Jordan was to have him on a big TV screen facing the
same way as everyone else, this way the full story could be told without
valuable inches being occupied by the back of Belfort’s head. The
ticker on CNBC reminds us how much the DOW has risen since those crazy
days of Stratton Oakmont.

I want to thank Josh and Matt Altman and their team from The Altman
Brothers for fully embracing their roles as extras. They brought exactly
the energy that was needed that morning. Everyone had to play their
role to perfection, otherwise the vibe was lost.