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In "The Wolf of Wall Street," Leo DiCaprio "Channels" Ray Liotta in Goodfellas

posted 3 years ago by ecarle (14979)
2 replies | jump to latest

I've had reason to watch Scorsese's Goodfellas and Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street close in time, recently, and this stuck out to me(maybe only me, but hell, I see it):

Leo DiCaprio in Wolf of Wall Street rather channels Ray Liotta in Goodfellas.

Its uncanny, really -- its like Leo saw Goodfellas and decided to do a Liotta impression -- same vocal rhythm, same tone of voice, same youthful tough guy swagger.

Its most notable in both films -- when the heroes have to confront angry wives.

More weirdly still: its sort of like Leo's FACE looks like Liotta's face in some shots, with the same expressions.

And of course , in both films, we have the characters walking and talking directly out of the screen, breaking the fourth wall to talk to US...and again, sounding and even looking a lot alike.

Since Leo's movie and role came second (by 23 years!) I guess I'll say that it was Leo's choice to emulate Liotta.

[–] TheWhiteHotel (44) 3 years ago

Hello ecarle, this happens to be the second post of yours that I have replied to today (the other being on the Nebraska board) but I am not stalking you, I promise!

I agree completely, when I first saw Wolf of Wall Street I clearly remember thinking Di Caprio could almost be Liotta. I am not American so I am not brilliant at the nuances of American accents, but they sound very similar to me, and as you say, even more than that, the tone and intonation of the two voices is uncannily similar and they both guide you somewhat gleefully through their own amoral, despicable but at times exciting and glamourous worlds. Scorsese's directorial style also contributes to the similarity of course and in some ways I think that these are the two films of his that are the most similar to each other.

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Hello ecarle, this happens to be the second post of yours that I have replied to today (the other being on the Nebraska board) but I am not stalking you, I promise!

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Ha. That's OK.

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I agree completely, when I first saw Wolf of Wall Street I clearly remember thinking Di Caprio could almost be Liotta.

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I am very pleased to see that I am not alone here. I will admit that in my case, it took a few viewings to "see" it. The first time, it was more like "Leo reminds me of SOMEONE ELSE. Who is it?" Then I made it: Liotta.

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I am not American so I am not brilliant at the nuances of American accents, but they sound very similar to me, and as you say, even more than that, the tone and intonation of the two voices is uncannily similar and they both guide you somewhat gleefully through their own amoral, despicable but at times exciting and glamourous worlds. Scorsese's directorial style also contributes to the similarity of course and in some ways I think that these are the two films of his that are the most similar to each other.

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I also see a bit of Casino in Wolf of Wall Street, because those two movies have a "polished gleam" that is missing from the more gritty Goodfellas. Still, Goodfellas, Casino, and WOWS are practically a trilogy about crooks -- there are no murders in Wolf of Wall Street, but there is crime, and excess, and the rich crook being brought down.

I wonder if Leo --who surely watched GoodFellas to get ready for this -- made the sly decision to mimic Liotta where he could.