Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are finally going to make The Wolf Of Wall Street together

Leonardo DiCaprio will move one step closer to replacing Robert De Niro as Martin Scorsese’s most-favored muse, with Deadline confirming in its inimitably vainglorious way that the two have officially signed on for their fifth collaboration, The Wolf Of Wall Street. Production begins this August on a film that’s been rumored for years now, with Scorsese wresting it back from potential usurpers like Ridley Scott—which means the press release can now refer to it as a “gangster” picture about “the rise of new ‘modern’ gangsters in New York,” because Martin Scorsese, gangster picture, whaddaya need, a road map?

That is, of course, in addition to the more obvious selling point that it’s a film about the unchecked, unethical wheeling and dealing in the early-’90s Wall Street system, which continues to have timely parallels no matter how many years it’s been delayed, because the economy continues to suck. The Terence Winter-scripted movie is based on the memoir of the same name by scandal-ridden swindler Jordan Belfort, whose indulgences in drugs, alcohol, women, and other fine things were as legendary as his financial acumen, until the day he was finally devoured by a wolf…. the wolf of Wall Street. (We didn’t read the book.)