‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ Really Crashed a Countach
“The Wolf of Wall Street” is a tale of excess and greed. Some cars were harmed in the making of this film.
Hollywood has a bit of a rap sheet, car-wise. Some movies are more gratuitous with their car destruction than others, but the fact remains: a lot of our favorite films really run through their cars.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) is Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of the action-packed (or utterly vacant, depending on your perspective) life of Wall Street tycoon Jordan Belfort. Fancy cars abound, and one
Lamborghini
sees some damage. A brief history of the Countach
Motor1
calls the Lamborghini Countach an “iconic 80s supercar,” which is a fair assessment. Marcello Giandini, a famously daring automotive designer, built a car that incorporated some choices that even Lamborghini aficionados found shocking (“contacc!,” remarked an assistant, according to MotorTrend
—apparently a somewhat profane expression of excitement in Piedmontese). Among these choices were scissor doors (a Giandini original),
pop-up headlights
, a giant rear wing, and a slope that would have algebra students in agony. The tortured geometry of the Countach somehow coheres into something gorgeous and strange. And even though it’s not particularly fast or powerful (420 hp) by today’s Lambo standards, the company deliberately only released a strictly limited number with each successive generation.And nothing piques a jumpy billionaire’s interest like scarcity.
‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ Countach
The Wolf of Wall Street Countach was doomed from the start: director Martin Scorsese wanted to accurately depict the excesses and carelessness of his protagonist, says
MotorBiscuit
. And what better way to do that than skipping the special effects and going straight for the automotive jugular? Car lovers, close your eyes.In the offending scene, Leonardo DiCaprio, as Belfort, is high on quaaludes and hell-bent on driving his Lambo anyway. Incapacitated by the drugs, he belly crawls painstakingly across his driveway, where the white 1988 Countach awaits.
Getting up off of the ground is too big a proposition, so he turns on his side and opens the scissor door with his foot, demonstrating some positively balletic leg flexibility. He wriggles his way into the car, slowly and painfully, and lurches into the driver’s seat as we look on in horror.
Scorsese then pulls another fast one on us—it looks like we’re following Belfort on a truly miraculous, unscathed joy ride, after which he collapses onto his couch, but as he awakens from his stupor we see two police officers hovering over him. Something is amiss. They escort Belfort outside and we see that the poor Countach is not, in fact, unscathed. In fact, it’s quite damaged.
This time the audience sees what really happened: Belfort crashes into two golf carts, another car, much of the shrubbery in his long driveway, and two signs on the road. Miraculously, no one is killed. Oh, and the scissor door on the passenger side remains open the entire time.
Insuring a Countach that you don’t want to crash
Though you might think Scorsese is a total villain for insisting on authenticity, you can’t deny—the scene is dark and hilarious. And luckily, the damage was likely not irreparable, says Motor1. Replace the front half of the car, and in theory you’re back in business.
But of course, this would be wildly expensive for such a rare car, and there’s the other small matter that no one, to our knowledge, has seen The Wolf of Wall Street Countach since its turn on the silver screen. We’re hoping that it’s living out its days peacefully on a farm somewhere, safe from capricious stockbrokers.
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