Leonardo DiCaprio and co-star Jonah Hill have both defended their new film, the Scorsese-directed “The Wolf Of Wall Street”, recently after critics and movie-goers called it a glorification of excess, power, and greed; now, they’re defending Scorsese and his vision.

DiCaprio, who has famously worked with Scorsese in several films, says that anyone who thinks the film is building up its characters to be idols is missing the point.

“I mean ultimately I think if anyone watches this movie, at the end of Wolf of Wall Street, they’re going to see that we’re not at all condoning this behavior. In fact we’re saying that this is something that is in our very culture and it needs to be looked at and it needs to be talked about. Because, to me, this attitude of what these characters represent in this film are ultimately everything that’s wrong with the world we live in,” he said.

Hill agreed with his co-star, saying at a recent Variety luncheon that the movie shows the downfall of the type of behavior portrayed by the actors.

“I personally take away the message from the film that this behavior, this lifestyle, leads to a very bad ending. I think the movie is not glorifying this behavior, it is showing that it leads to bad places whether their judicial punishment doesn’t reflect that is one thing. Where your life ends up, who you are as a person, is another,” he said.

DiCaprio spoke up on behalf of Scorsese, saying he believes in what the director was trying to say.

“It’s exciting to be a part of a film, in a way, that is kind of bold and is taking a chance like that, and I think that anyone that thinks this is a celebration of Wall Street and this sort of hedonism — yes, the unique thing about Marty is that he doesn’t judge his characters. And that was something that you don’t quite understand while you’re making the movie, but he allows the freedom of this almost hypnotic, drug-infused, wild ride that these characters go on. And he allows you, as an audience — guilty or not — to enjoy in that ride without judging who these people are. Because ultimately, he keeps saying this: ‘Who am I to judge anybody?'”

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