The Wolf Of Wall Street” was based on the novel by Jordan Belfort and chronicles the rise of Belfort on Wall Street, the life he led during that time, and his fall, involving crime, corruption, and the Feds. I am uncredited on the film, but it’s an interesting story.
I had a great audition with Scorsese, and, in fact, I was cast. But I had already booked a commercial and had signed on. I auditioned because the shoot dates didn’t conflict. They were close but didn’t overlap. And then, of course, they did. I tried to do both. The commercial was shooting at night and the ‘Wolf” people did try to accommodate me, but they wound up shooting at night, too. I stuck with the commercial because I had already signed on and that’s what you do. You honor your commitments, but if I hadn’t signed the contract I would have done the movie. Martin Scorsese, after all.
Five months later my agent for the film gets a call from “The Wolf Of Wall Street,” Scorsese wants to see me. Rocky Aoki, the role I auditioned for, was the founder of the Benihana restaurant chain, and had had curly, or permed, hair, so they wanted me to go see the hairdresser for the show, get fitted with a curly wig, and go to Scorsese’s townhouse on the East side. I get the wig, and I go with the hairdresser to Scorsese’s. Scorsese and some production people check me out, and then we’re leaving and I ask the hairdresser do I have a job? No one knew.
They called me later, and I did have a job. But there was some kind of Union thing, I think, or maybe because it was so late, but I was, and remain, uncredited on the film. It doesn’t really matter, I was in the film, and I was directed by Martin Scorsese. And he cast me in a short film/commercial a couple of years later with Robert DeNiro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brad Pitt. It is the most expensive commercial ever made. You can read about it in “The Audition” on my grid up ahead.
