There was some doubt that Martin Scorsese’s new film, The Wolf of Wall Street, wouldn’t make it out by the end of the year, but yesterday we learned that he and editor Thelma Schoonmaker are working to get the film in theaters by December 25th.  The first trailer was terrific, and another one should be on the way later this month.  As for what we can expect from the movie, Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill have provided a few more details.  “This movie epitomizes the corruption of the American dream, and it's done with a great sense of sadistic humor,” says DiCaprio.  “For us, it was just so incredibly outrageous in a different way than anything we had ever read or seen that it became something fresh and exciting.”

Hit the jump for more.  The Wolf of Wall Street is still officially slated for November 15th, but that’s highly likely to change.

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Image via Paramount Pictures

The Wolf of Wall Street is Scorsese and DiCaprio’s fifth collaboration, and their mutual bond has helped support the improvisatory nature of the movie, “simply because the trust level’s there,” DiCaprio tells the Wall Street Journal.

The emphasis on improvisation made Hill a tremendous addition to the production, according to DiCaprio:

"Jonah Hill is probably one of the greatest improvisers I've ever worked with. He's completely fearless standing in front of a group of people, coming up with incredibly spontaneous, brilliant dialogue. There were multiple occasions when the scene became something absolutely different just because he would bring up some hilarious subject, and we would just riff on it until the film canister ran out, and Marty would let us do it all over again from a different angle, and we'd keep riffing.”

For Hill’s part, nothing can compare to the experience of working on this movie:

"I mean, being shot in slow motion doing cocaine by Martin Scorsese is, like, maybe every actor's dream. Nothing will ever compare to it, except for maybe having kids one day or something."

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I can just imagine Hill looking at his firstborn child and thinking, “Yeah, you’re alright, but…”

And although there will be plenty of dark, debauched comedy in The Wolf of Wall Street, Scorsese plans to keep his eye on the larger thematic issues regarding our financial systems:

"I would ask: Given the nature of free-market capitalism—where the rule is to rise to the top at all costs—is it possible to have a financial industry hero? And by the way, this is not a pop-culture trend we're talking about. There aren't many financial heroes in literature, theater or cinema."