In his Oscar-nominated performance as Jordan Belfort in "The Wolf of Wall Street," Leonardo DiCaprio portrays a reckless stockbroker who snorts coke for breakfast and eats Quaaludes for lunch. In reality, however, DiCaprio admits he has never touched the stuff.
“I've never done drugs,” the actor revealed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “That’s because I saw this stuff literally every day when I was 3 or 4 years old.”
In the interview, DiCaprio explains that the Los Angeles neighborhood he grew up in was rampant with prostitution, drug addicts and gang violence.
“So Hollywood was a walk in the park for me," the actor explained. "I’d go to parties and it was there, and yeah there’s that temptation. Hollywood is a very volatile place where artists come in and they essentially say they want to belong. It's incredibly vulnerable to be an actor and also get criticism at a young age when you're formulating who you are. We've seen a lot of people fall victim to that, and it's very unfortunate."
So how did Leo manage to play such a convincing addict? Coached by the real-life "Wolf of Wall Street," Belfort, DiCaprio was instructed to roll around on the floor to simulate the effects of the heavily sedative Quaaludes.
Yup, it's called acting.
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