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Leonardo DiCaprio’s parents didn’t react to The Wolf of Wall Street as some might imagine. In fact, the Oscar-winning actor’s mom and dad barely reacted at all to his no-holds-barred performance as a successful stockbroker in 1980’s New York City. 

The actor had ‘no moral high ground’ playing Jordan Belfort

Leonardo DiCaprio at a photo call for 'The Revenant' in 2016 posing for photographers wearing a collared shirt and jacket
Leonardo DiCaprio | Franco Origlia/Getty Images

Pretty much anything goes in The Wolf of Wall Street. It’s apparent right from the start of the 2013 film. What unfolds during the three-hour Martin Scorsese drama is what DiCaprio described in a 2014 interview with NPR’s Morning Edition as an “exploration of greed.” 

His performance, which earned him a best actor Golden Globe, didn’t have any rules either. DiCaprio could do just about anything which led to an “incredibly freeing” performance. He had “no moral high ground” playing the character of Jordan Belfort. What’s more, there was “nobody really in the film” he had to “answer” to. 

‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ didn’t ‘faze’ Leonardo DiCaprio’s parents 

Leonardo DiCaprio sits at a table next to his mother, Irmelin Indenbirken, at the 2012 Golden Globes
Irmelin Indenbirken and Leonardo DiCaprio | Vince Bucci/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

In the same interview, DiCaprio shared how his parents reacted to The Wolf of Wall Street. The film, which came close to receiving an NC-17 rating, apparently didn’t bother the actor’s parents, Irmelin Indenbirken and George DiCaprio, in the slightest. 

“I am almost 40 years old now, so I’d hope that I wouldn’t have to answer to them, even though I think that the perception of me is still the child actor, [so] that, you know, people would wonder what my parents thought,” DiCaprio said. “But to tell you the truth, it didn’t faze them whatsoever.” 

The Oscar winner continued, saying the Martin Scorsese film didn’t even come close to what he was exposed to as a child.

“I mean, I was reading underground comics in the back of my dad’s station wagon that were much more gratuitous than this at 10 years old, so nothing really affected them on that level,” he added. 

Raised primarily by his mother in California — DiCaprio’s parents divorced when he was just a year old — the Titanic star often accompanied his comic distributor father to events. He also witnessed the “most hardcore hippie subculture any young man would be subject to.” And, in a way, it prepared the actor for success

Margot Robbie’s family reacted differently to the Martin Scorsese film

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Margot Robbie, the actor who played DiCaprio’s on-screen wife in the film, didn’t have the same experience with her family. Robbie, who was 22 when she landed the role, confessed she “flat out lied” about being nude in the film. 

During a January 2014 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Robbie said she initially told her family she wouldn’t be nude at all. Although as time went on she changed her story. Robbie later convinced her family the crew used a body double and CGI technology for her nude scenes. Finally, after telling her family the truth, the actor learned exactly how her family felt about it. Per the DailyMail.com, Robbie’s mother approved. However, they decided her grandparents shouldn’t watch The Wolf of Wall Street.