It’s still a fantastic movie and never boring to watch/re-watch over and over, though there is a trend towards people that don’t get the message, much like some Oliver Stone fans do with Wall Street, or the other, less well known movie about the Jordan Belfort story, Boiler Room. Clearly much of it really happened, but it’s also pretty clear that Jordan Belfort loves to embellish his stories a lot, so it’s likely at the very least, overstated, if not outright untrue. In the end, how true is The Wolf Of Wall Street? We’ll probably never get a definitive answer to that question. No one at the firm or anywhere else ever called him that, as far as Porush knew, until Jordan Belfort made it up for the title of his memoir. This is another outlandish claim that Danny Porush claims was made up or embellished for the book and subsequently the movie. Jordan Belfort Wasn’t Really Called “The Wolf Of Wall Street” In the case of Donnie Azuff, that may actually be because there was some combining of his story with the story of other traders at Stratton Oakmont, but most of it was Danny Porush, or at least how Jordan Belfort “remembers” his contributions to the insanity. It’s not really clear why they bothered to change the names when the characters are clearly based on those real people and are definitely not composite characters or made up for the story, but they did.
The name of Nadine’s Aunt Patricia, who really did help smuggle money to Switzerland, also has her name changed in the movie to Emma. Belfort’s second wife, who was actually a model as portrayed by Margot Robbie in the film, is named Nadine in real life, while in the movie her named was changed to Naomi. When Jordan Belfort started at Stratton Oakmont, he was still married to his first wife named Denise, but in the movie, her name was Teresa.
In addition to Donnie Azoff, other names were changed, most notably Belfort’s wives names. Many Of The Names Are Changed In The Movie Porush also disputes that there was ever a chimpanzee in the office, as there is in the movie. They acknowledge that there were little people hired as entertainment for the party, and likely were subject to some inhumane and nasty actions, but they weren’t actually “tossed.” There are no pictures or any other way to verify which version of the story is true, but frankly, it’s kind of hard to believe that it isn’t true, given how terrible some of these people were at the time. People that were at the party, including Danny Porush, dispute that the tossing happened. While “dwarf tossing” was (and sadly still is) an actual thing, it probably didn't happen at Stratton Oakmont.
The event, held at the Stratton Oakmont office, shows the brokers and traders at the company competing in a contest that involves throwing little people at a target and other shocking behavior. One of the more offensive moments in the film is the “dwarf tossing” scene. The Offensive Scene With The Little People Might Not Have Been Real He really did tell Belfort that the key to success was “masturbation, cocaine and hookers.” The chest thumping was not real though, that was all McConaughey. One fact that does appear to be true is the scene in the movie with Matthew McConaughey’s character, based a real life mentor to Belfort named Mark Hanna. The incredible yarns Jordan Belfort spins of the insane office parties, the Quaaludes, the cocaine, booze, head shaving and dirty sex are enough to make Motley Crue blush. It's also incredibly hard to verify how much of the debauchery is true. The book is not so much a warning of the perils of excess it actually sets a new standard in the perils. It makes for an amazing read, but it’s also obvious that you can’t trust everything. So again, he's the epitome of an unreliable narrator. The memoir, also titled The Wolf Of Wall Street, as you can imagine, is filled with wild and crazy stories told by the convicted con artist that loves to promote himself. The Wolf Of Wall Street Is Based On Jordan Belfort’s Memoir