'The Wolf Of Wall Street' criticised for glamorising psychopathic behaviour - NME.com

December 30, 2013 12:51

Daughter of man featured in film slams Scorsese's depiction of 'fun sexcapades and coke binges'

The daughter of a man portrayed in the forthcoming The Wolf Of Wall Street has criticised the film for glamorising a lifestyle of "fun sexcapades and coke binges".

The film, directed by Martin Scorsese, stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, the titular crooked stockbroker. It's the daughter of one of Belfort associate Tom Prousalis, Christina McDowell, who has spoken out against the film.

In an open letter published in LA Weekly^[1] , McDowell accused her targets of "exacerbating our national obsession with wealth and status and glorifying greed and psychopathic behaviour".

McDowell was forced to change her name after discovering her father had stolen her identity to launder money before being jailed for financial fraud. She says The Wolf Of Wall Street amounts to a "reckless attempt at continuing to pretend that these sorts of schemes are entertaining, even as the country is reeling from yet another round of Wall Street scandals".

She continues: "Did you think about the cultural message you'd be sending when you decided to make this film? You have successfully aligned yourself with an accomplished criminal, a guy [Belfort] who still hasn't made full restitution to his victims… And don't even get me started on the incomprehensible way in which your film degrades women, the misogynistic, ass-backwards message you endorse to younger generations of men."

Elsewhere in the letter, McDowell reveals her father's crimes left her facing debts of hundreds of thousands of dollars, leaving her to couch-surf for two years and "stealing pieces of salami out of my boyfriends' refrigerators in the middle of the night because I was so hungry and so ashamed that I couldn't feed myself".

It was recently revealed Belfort, enjoying newfound notoriety due to Scorsese's film, is in talks to star in his own TV series. The former stockbroker now works as a motivational speaker and financial guru in California, and, according to the Hollywood Reporter^[2] , could star in a series in which he helps people who have hit rock bottom rebuild their lives.

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References

1. ^{^} open letter published in LA Weekly (blogs.laweekly.com)


2. ^{^} Hollywood Reporter (www.hollywoodreporter.com)