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Will Leo DiCaprio Be Made ‘Toupee’ For ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’?

By Nancy Bailey
Published on: 09:52 PST, Jun 18, 2016

Leo DiCaprio has been ordered to testify in a civil lawsuit over the film The Wolf of Wall Street.

DiCaprio, who was accused of “evasiveness” by plaintiff Andrew Greene’s attorney, was finally nailed down by a court order to appear after repeated attempts to meet with the actor fell through.

Greene is suing Paramount (along with DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese) for the portrayal of his character, Nicky “Rugrat” Koskoff, who was played in the film by P.J. Byrne.

Greene complains that the film portrayed him as a toupee-wearing loser, according to E! Online. As shown in The Wolf Of Wall Street, the character “Rugrat” has no morals, abuses drugs, and hires prostitutes.

Cinema Blend stated that, “like P.J. Byrne’s character, Andrew Greene worked at the infamously debauched Stratton Oakmont brokerage firm, the creation and antics of which were depicted in The Wolf Of Wall Street.”

In other comparisons, Alex Greene also attended law school and wore a toupee during his time on the board of directors at Stratton Oakmont through the 1990s.

The hairpiece was the target of many jokes, and Greene is referred to as “Wigwam” in Jordan Belfort’s book, which the film is based on.

In a suit filed in November 2015, Andrew Greene said that the “Rugrat” character was a “criminal, drug user, degenerate, depraved, and devoid of any morals or ethics.”

Greene said that being portrayed in this light has damaged his reputation, and caused his fiancée to leave him.

Greene is suing Paramount for $50 million, according to Cinema Blend.

DiCaprio’s legal team said that the Oscar winner had no involvement in writing scenes for Greene’s character. But despite their attempts to keep Leo off the stand, Judge Steven Locke granted the plaintiff’s motion.

Greene’s attorneys said that DiCaprio produced the movie and was a “driving force” behind it, and is “knowledgeable regarding significant issues in this case,” according to Daily Mail.

The film’s director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Terence Winter both confirmed this through testimony when they revealed DiCaprio attended meetings regularly to go over the script.

The court acknowledged Leo’s busy schedule, but the plaintiffs pointed out that constant flying coast to coast makes the mega-star able to “travel easily” for the deposition.

United States magistrate Judge Steven Locke granted Greene’s motion to depose DiCaprio, and stated that the deposition would take place “at a reasonable time and place agreed to by the parties.”

Greene’s lawyer Andrew Goldsmith was pleased with the decision.

“We are glad that the Judge recognized Mr. DiCaprio’s evasiveness and look forward to continuing our pursuit of justice for Mr. Greene. We are very pleased with the testimony coming forward from all kinds of witnesses so far in depositions.”

Greene’s lawsuit is not the first scandal surrounding The Wolf of Wall Street. In April 2016, the Inquisitr reported an ongoing FBI investigation targeting misappropriation of Malaysian funds used to pay for the movie.

Red Granite films, a small, mostly unknown company, invested $100 million to make the movie.

According to the Inquisitr, “global investigators are now saying the money used to make the film may have come from a state fund that was delegated to help economic development in Malaysia.”

No date has been set for DiCaprio’s deposition in Greene’s lawsuit.

[Image via Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock.com]

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