There are many iconic film moments that are not written in screenplays and never would be had directors not let their actors try things out. One of such legendary moments is the chest-thumping and humming scene that Matthew McConaughey and Leonardo DiCaprio acted out in Martin Scorsese‘s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.’
Despite being very structured, this biography often served as an acting class of spontaneous performances. The most memorable instance of that happened during a brief but iconic performance by McConaughey as Mark Hanna, the stockbroker mentor of Jordan Belfort. Interestingly enough, that particular scene was never planned.
Pre-scene Ritual Performed By Matthew McConaughey
Despite being two major Hollywood stars, Matthew McConaughey and Leonardo DiCaprio co-starred in only one movie. McConaughey was responsible for getting DiCaprio into Jordan Belfort’s financial web in the movie. McConaughey’s lunch scene set the mood for the entire film thanks to his chest-thumping and humming.
Those gestures were not a part of McConaughey’s performance created by the screenwriter, Terence Winter. During his interview on The Graham Norton Show, McConaughey admitted that those were just his personal techniques, which he applied before filming to relax and concentrate.
“That’s something I’ll do before scenes to relax myself, get my voice to drop. I’ve been doing it for a while, but it’s just something I do to get out of my head. I was doing it right before the scene started.” Said McConaughey.
Noticing how his co-star was warming up to his role before shooting, DiCaprio asked Scorsese to incorporate McConaughey’s routine directly into the scene, and he did.
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An Instance Of Spontaneous Acting
The described scene wasn’t an exception. Scorsese encouraged his actors to engage in spontaneous performances, which make up the basis of improvisation.
The term, coming from the Latin word ad libitum, which means “as you desire,” refers to creating an illusion of pre-scripted dialogue and action.
The Wolf of Wall Street is full of examples of improvisation by both lead roles and their co-stars. Jonah Hill, for instance, used a lot of improvisation in order to create a better connection with Leonardo DiCaprio and make the scenes more natural. Hill completely improvised the odd scene when he talked to an employee about a goldfish.
Improvisation in movies isn’t an exclusive phenomenon, though. It happens all the time and helps actors to bring reality onto the screen. For instance, when Emily Blunt acted in ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ she improvised her biting comeback, “Yeah, I’m hearing this, and I want to hear this,” when she overheard a similar dialogue between a stressed woman and a child in a supermarket.
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In conclusion, what seemed like a minor improvisation helped to develop McConaughey’s character in The Wolf of Wall Street into an intriguing figure and turned him into a key player in the whole film.
Do you share our opinion? Is Mark Hanna’s chest-thumping monologue Matthew McConaughey’s greatest performance, or do you prefer him in other movies, such as Interstellar and True Detective?
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