'The Artist' Star Jean Dujardin Joins Martin Scorsese's 'The Wolf Of Wall Street'

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by Kevin Jagernauth
June 14, 2012 1:48 PM
3 Comments

While there was no doubt that Jean Dujardin was the charming story of the awards season last year, capped off by a Best Actor win at the Oscars, his Hollywood prospects seemed doubtful. His command of the English language is limited, but he proved he could deliver with some great comic timing with the right material, thanks to a pretty great Funny Or Die video. But he'll have his greatest test yet as he's nabbed his first stateside role with one of the most esteemed directors...well, ever.

Dujardin has come aboard Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf Of Wall Street." He joins a pretty solid cast thus far with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Kyle Chandler already on board, in the story based on the memoir by Jordan Belfort and adapted by Terence Winter, that tells the true tale of the rise and fall of a drug/sex/alcohol-addicted New York stockbroker. So how will Dujardin get around his not-so-thorough English? He plays "a suave Swiss banker" (obviously) who is laundering money for DiCaprio's company. One of the official languages in Switzerland? French. So we presume a little bit of broken English will be just fine for the part.

But language issues aside, Dujardin has proven he can be a great screen presence and we figure Scorsese will put that to good use. It's a smart addition to a film that is getting more intriguing with each announcement. Fans of the actor will soon see him in his native tongue in the French hit "The Players" that The Weinstein Company will distribute on this side of the ocean, and he has a handful of films in the works as well including the thriller "Mobius" opposite Tim Roth and a remake of Claude Berri's "One Wild Moment" with Vincent Cassel.

Shooting on "The Wolf Of Wall Street" kicks off this summer. [Variety]

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3 Comments

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jingmei | June 14, 2012 9:01 PMReply

His French folks may be bit jealous of him since they even speak English. 8)
Axel | June 15, 2012 6:53 AM

Actually he's one of the biggest and most beloved stars in France. When I was in Paris, the media coverage for the Oscars was a real phenomenon, even Dujardin overshadowed the coverage to "The Artist". This article explain better this situation:

http://open.salon.com/blog/alysa_salzberg/2012/02/27/jean_dujardin_the_oscars_and_france

So, I don't think they'll be jealous... Even they can celebrate this news. :P
Tom | June 14, 2012 2:03 PMReply

Hell yes. Dujardin is an immensely talented actor.