Leonardo DiCaprio has named 2013's "The Wolf of Wall Street", his fifth collaboration with director Martin Scorsese, as the film he most hopes will stand the test of time as a genuine work of original filmmaking. Speaking to Deadline, the actor said he and Scorsese deliberately avoided softening or excusing the behaviour of Jordan Belfort, the real-life fraudster he played, insisting that portraying such repugnant characters honestly, without false sympathy, is what makes the film distinctive rather than imitative.

DiCaprio credited Scorsese's approach of depicting people "as authentically as possible" without apologising for their actions as the key to the film's boldness, drawing a parallel with how earlier Scorsese classics such as "Taxi Driver", winner of the 1976 Palme d'Or, and "Raging Bull" came to be seen as enduring masterpieces once audiences became desensitised to imitators. "The Wolf of Wall Street" was well received on release and praised for DiCaprio and Margot Robbie's performances, though the article notes it remains debatable whether the film sufficiently condemns its characters' greed and misogyny rather than glamorising it.