Leonardo DiCaprio has starred in quite a few movies like Titanic, The Revenant, and now his 2025 movie release directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another. With such a varied catalog, the actor has made movies for nearly everyone, except maybe children. Well, at least one would think. The Oscar winner has focused on mostly R-rated films through most of his career. However, apparently this isn’t stopping little kids from finding his work, and this shockingly includes The Wolf of Wall Street.
The movie star was recently asked which of his films have become most relevant with younger audiences. I would’ve honestly thought he may have said Romeo+Juliet or The Great Gatsby, as the source material for these films are often taught in schools. However, DiCaprio revealed to Variety that surprisingly a lot of kids come up to him talking about The Wolf of Wall Street, which is definitely not geared towards children. He said:
Some little kids come up to me and go, ‘I love Wolf of Wall Street.’ I’m like, ‘You saw that? How old are you?’ Although, I watched a lot of rated-R movies when I was young.
For context, The Wolf of Wall Street is a 2013 film following the outrageous and ostentatious life of Jordan Belfort, a stock broker who defrauds wealthy investors in order to make millions. The movie is a cautionary tale about the dangers of greed, while also showcasing the antics and egregious lifestyle choices of the über wealthy in New York in the ’80s and ’90s. It is based on a memoir of the real Jordan Belfort, and The Wolf of Wall Street was a major box office hit when it was released. It also resulted in a number of Oscar nominations for DiCaprio’s performance, and director Martin Scorsese.
While The Wolf of Wall Street is undoubtedly a fantastic film, and one of the best acting showcases from DiCaprio, the movie couldn’t be further from a kids movie. It has explicit nude scenes, shows copious amounts of drug use, and uses the F-word more than most other rated-R films. Additionally, the characters in The Wolf of Wall Street are far from role models, and the movie was intended to be a reckoning for the particular population that it follows, rather than celebrating the behavior.
Even adults found it controversial when it was released. While I’m not sure kids should be diving in, the star makes an excellent point, noting that he was watching rated-R films as a kid, too. So, it clearly is still happening.
In DiCaprio’s case this was positive. He fell in love with movies that he watched during formative years, resulting in him becoming one of the best actors of his generation. Many directors have also cited watching rated-R films as a kid as memorable experiences that helped form their own taste. You never know, some of these young Wolf of Wall Street viewers may just be the next Leo.
You can see Leonardo DiCaprio in his latest critically acclaimed film, One Battle After Another now as the film is currently playing in theaters nationwide. Fans can also revisit his career-defining performance in The Wolf of Wall Street, which is currently streaming with a Paramount+ subscription.