The whole of Hollywood and the world beyond are mourning the death of director Rob Reiner and wife Michele Singer. While many remember Rob for the amazing films he helmed from the director’s chair, he started his career as an actor. Later in his career, he made appearances in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and the Jeremy Allen White-led series The Bear. During an old event, Rob had talked about Martin’s film and described his experience of working for the director.
The cast of The Wolf of Wall Street sat down for a question and answer round, where Rob was asked about what he thought of the film. He said, “I mean, I read the script, but I didn’t know what to expect. We were going to do this Q and A thing, and what if the movie stinks? But luckily, it was the opposite; it was really good, and I was really happy to watch it. I knew that there were going to be laughs in it; I just didn’t know how many. The scene with you guys (Leonardo and Jonah) with the Quaaludes is one of the funniest set pieces I have ever seen in the movies. I was just dying.”
He then shares the story of how Martin approached him for the film and the question he posed to the director once he learnt that he was going to play Leonardo DiCaprio’s father. “I have known Marty for a long, long time, and when he called me to be in the movie, I said, ‘Wait a minute. I am going to play Leonardo DiCaprio’s father?’ What’s more unbelievable? That he’s a Jew or that I am his father. But he did play it, and he played it great.”
Jon Favreau, Leonardo DiCaprio and Rob Reiner in The Wolf of Wall Street. (Photo: IMDb)
Rob then started complimenting Scorsese for the type of director he was. He revealed that a lot of the film was improvised, and the only reason why it worked was because the actors felt comfortable enough to express themselves. He said, “As a director, you never know how other directors do it until you’re on their set. The fun that he (Scorsese) creates and the atmosphere that lets you be free. I mean some of the things that we did — we were all improvising. He is a great person to work for because he makes a great playground.”
He concluded by saying that he had a blast working with Leonardo, whom he considers one of the greatest actors of all time.
Directed by Martin Scorsese, the cast of The Wolf of Wall Street includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, and Cristin Milioti.
