The man who made offers others couldn't refuse once refused the movie industry's heftiest honor.

On March 5, 1973, Marlon Brando declined the Academy Award for Best Actor for his gut-wrenching performance as Vito Corleone in "The Godfather" — for a very unexpected reason.

Here's how it went down.

The Movie That Brought Brando Back

In the 1960s, Brando's career had slid into decline. His previous two movies  — the famously over-budget "One-Eyed Jacks" and "Mutiny on the Bounty" — tanked at the box office. Critics said "Mutiny" marked the end of Hollywood's golden age, and worse still, rumors of Brando's unruly behavior on set turned him into one of the least desirable actors to work with.

Brando's career needed saving. "The Godfather" was his defibrillator.

In the epic portrayal of a 1940s New York Mafia family, Brando played the patriarch, the original Don. Though the film follows his son Michael (played by Al Pacino), Vito Corleone is its spine. A ruthless, violent criminal, he loves and protects the family by any means necessary. It's the warmth of his humanity that makes him indestructible — a paradox shaped by Brando's remarkable performance.

"The Godfather" grossed nearly $135 million nationwide, and is heralded as one of the greatest films of all time. Pinned against pinnacles of the silver screen — Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, and Peter O'Toole — Brando was favorited to win Best Actor. 

Drama At The Awards Show

On the eve of the 45th Academy Awards, Brando announced that he would boycott the ceremony and send Sacheen Littlefeather in his place. A little-known actress, she was then-president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee.

On the evening of March 5, when Liv Ullman and Roger Moore read out the name of the Best Actor award recipient, neither presenter parted their lips in a smile. Their gaze fell on a woman in Apache dress, whose long, dark hair bobbed against her shoulders as she climbed the stairs.

Moore extended the award to Littlefeather, who waved it away with an open palm. She set a letter down on the podium, introduced herself, and said:

"I'm representing Marlon Brando this evening and he has asked me to tell you ... that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry —"

The crowd booed. Littlefeather looked down and said "excuse me." Others in the audience began to clap, cheering her on. She continued only briefly, to "beg" that her appearance was not an intrusion and that they will "meet with love and generosity" in the future.

Watch the scene unfold:

Why He Did It

In 1973, Native Americans had "virtually no representation in the film industry and were primarily used as extras," Native American studies scholar Dina Gilio-Whitaker writes. "Leading roles depicting Indians in several generations of Westerns were almost always given to white actors."

But they weren't just neglected or replaced in film; they were disrespected — a realization that crippled Brando's image of the industry.

The following day, The New York Times printed the entirety of his statement— which Littlefeather was unable to read in full because of "time restraints." Brando expressed support for the American Indian Movement and referenced the ongoing situation at Wounded Knee, where a team of 200 Oglala Lakota activists had occupied a tiny South Dakota town the previous month and was currently under siege by U.S. military forces. He wrote:

"The motion picture community has been as responsible as any for degrading the Indian and making a mockery of his character, describing him as savage, hostile and evil. It's hard enough for children to grow up in this world. When Indian children ... see their race depicted as they are in films, their minds become injured in ways we can never know."

A tsunami of criticism toppled over Brando and Littlefeather following the Oscars, from peers in the industry and the media.

Still, Brando lent the Native American community a once in a lifetime opportunity to raise awareness of their fight in front of 85 million viewers, leveraging an entertainment platform for political justice in unprecedented fashion. His controversial rejection of the award (which no winner has repeated since) remains one of the most powerful moments in Oscar history.

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SEE ALSO: See the full list of 2014 Oscar nominations

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What does a photographer/expert Photoshopper see when they're processing a photo?

The Today Show just tweeted out a photo of its anchors, and all the things that are supposedly wrong with their appearances.

Insanity.

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"Girls" star Allison Williams is engaged to her boyfriend of three years, CollegeHumor co-founder, Ricky Van Veen, her rep confirms.

Williams, 25, plays plays Marnie on the hit HBO series and is the daughter of NBC News anchor Brian Williams.

Van Veen, 33, created CollegeHumor while a student at Wake Forest. The site went on to earn between $10 million–15 million dollars a year before the partners sold a 51% controlling stake to IAC/InterActiveCorp and Barry Diller became Van Veen's mentor. In 2012, he was chosen as one of Crain's New York's 40 Under 40 in 2012. Today, Van Veen is CEO of production company, Notional, which produces TV shows liked "Chopped" on the Food Network.

Williams, for her part, recently told Glamour magazine that she hopes to settle down and have a family. "My goal is to create a career I can walk away from and become a mom," she said in the March issue. "I'd love to be a mom — and not have to bring my kids into my trailer."

UsWeekly reports the pair were last seen sharing an ice cream sundae at a restaurant in Los Angeles after recently returning from a trip to Colombia. 

SEE ALSO: Kimora Lee Simmons Secretly Married Goldman Sachs Banker Tim Leissner

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Steve Ells, the founder of America's most popular Mexican fast-casual chain, just sold his townhouse on Jane Street in New York City's West Village to the music mogul who'd been renting the place for the past year, according to Zillow.

The 4,400-square foot Greek Revival first hit the market in September 2012 at $16.5 million, then was reduced to $14.5 million before Lyor Cohen, recently retired from Warner Music Group, scooped it up for $11.4 million.    

The 24-foot wide building dates back to 1858, with a modernized interior including four bedrooms, three family rooms, a wine cellar and a library. 

The Greek Revival townhouse has a facade that dates back to 1858.

Inside, it features a modern library with built-in shelves along two walls.

The building is 24 feet wide with five stories.

Don't feel sorry for the Oscar nominees who go home without a gold statuette Sunday night.

All the nominees head home with more than $85,000 worth of goodies after the ceremony. 

For the past 12 years, Distinctive Assets has been putting together the "Everyone Wins at the Oscars Nominee Gift Bag." 

This year's basket costs nearly double the price of last year's with more than 50 gifts ranging in price from $6.50 to $16,000. 

A spokesperson for Distinctive Assets tells Business Insider they saw a spike in companies interested in participating after gaining popularity among celebrities and in the press.

"This year we had so many vendors approach the team at Distinctive Assets wanting to be a part of the gift bag. There are also several luxury items included which really boost up the value."

Two of those items include a $15,000 walking tour of Japan and a $16,000 laser hair removal offer. 

We've organzied everything the nominees will take home from designer lollipops to luxurious trips to Las Vegas and Hawaii.

A $6.49 DrainWig that prevents hair clogs in your shower drain.

Learn more about it here.

$23 in reuseable 3-in-1 dry-cleaning bags from Green Garmento.

The bag goes from hamper, to duffle bag, to garment bag. And, yes, this was on "Shark Tank." 

A $35 six-pack of herbal tea-based lollipops from Dosha Pops.

Flavors include Chai Me Up (chai tea), Head Over Hibiscus (hibiscus), Inner Glow (lemon & turmeric), Mytea Pomegranate (pomegranate & rooibos), Velvet Rope (chicory), and Wishful Pinking (pink rose).

Check them out here.

An "Allah" symbol has been scrubbed out of the YouTube version of Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" music video.

The symbol, representing the Arabic word for god, was on the necklace of a man whom Katy Perry destroys by turning him into a shimmering pile of red sand. (Long story short: Perry portrays a souped-up version of Cleopatra whose ancient Egyptian charms turns men to dust, and causes a lot of tightly choreographed dancing among her cat-headed guards.)

No aspect of the video is in any way anti-Muslim. Nonetheless, a Change.org petition asking YouTube to remove the video entirely because of the "portrayal of blasphemy" gathered more than 65,000 signatures. 

It's not clear whether YouTube or Katy Perry's team edited the video to remove the symbol from the necklace. (Hat-tip to The Jerusalem Post, where we found this story.)

Separately, YouTube was also recently ordered to remove all copies of the video "Innocence of Muslims" for copyright reasons.

Check out the before-and-after shot:

Here's the video:

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In the last couple of days, everyone's been talking about Paul Lamere's data showing each state's favorite band. The data Lamere is working from is proprietary to his firm The Echo Nest. But he made it defacto accessible through a nifty app that allows you to compare one state's tastes with another's.

Which makes it possible to answer the question: Which bands are least popular? 

 On his blog Fancycwabs, engineer Randal Cooper did just that, coming up with a map showing the overall most popular bands in America that happen to be extremely unpopular in a given state.

Here are the results:

For reference, here's the data results he would have been working from. Below is the example for Alabama.

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Ahead of the Oscars this Sunday, here's some fun Academy Award trivia for you that's being shared across Reddit.

Can you name the shortest Oscar nominee? While "Gravity" may be one of the shortest nominations for Best Picture, that title goes to 2013 Academy Award nominee "Fresh Guacamole" at just 100 seconds long.

The short film, by director PES, didn’t win the Oscar — that honor went to Disney’s “Paperman" — but if you've never seen it, it's fantastic.

The film uses stop motion to show how a bowl of guacamole is made. The kicker is that different objects are used in place of ingredients which transform into other items when they are sliced and diced.

Here are some of the transformations that take place.

This baseball gets diced into actual dice.

... before becoming even smaller dice.

This fake tomato also gets diced:

And these chess pieces are used in place of salt and pepper shakers:

According to the BBC, the short took four months to put together.

In case you’re wondering, the longest movie to ever be nominated for — and win — an Academy Award is "Gone with the Wind" at 238 minutes.

The shortest film to ever win the Oscar Best Picture is 1955 film "Marty" at 90 minutes.

So even if "Gravity" does pull out a win Sunday night, at 91 mins., it will not take that record.

Watch the amazing "Guacamole" below:

MORE OSCARS: Why Marlon Brando rejected his 1973 Oscar for "The Godfather"

SEE ALSO: Everything the nominees will take home in the $85,000 Oscar gift bag

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You might not recognize her, but the woman at right is actually world famous actress Jennifer Lawrence.

The image is part of the "Hunger Games" and "Silver Linings Playbook" star's third ad campaign for the luxury brand Dior.

Though Lawrence is on the record as being appreciative of the Photoshop wizards who make her look better, it's sort of crazy just how far they went for the most recent ads.

Emily Leaman, writing for Philadelphia Magazine, described the ad as giving Lawrence a "bobble-head quality" by drastically slimming her shoulders without changing the size of her head.

By contrast, here's an un-Photoshopped picture of Lawrence taken at January's Golden Globe Awards:

And here are some of the other ads from the Dior campaign:

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Liam Neeson got heated over New York City politics while promoting his new movie "Non Stop" on "The Daily Show" Wednesday night.

"I am a little bit pissed off at our elected new mayor," Neeson told host Jon Stewart. "He wants to close this horse and carriage industry in New York. There was a poll last week and over 60% of New Yorkers want to keep the horse carriage industry in Central Park."

Stewart took the opposing side of the argument, saying, "We live right next door to them and I always feel bad for the horses on the streets. It seems like they and the van traffic don't get along."

Neeson argued that the horse carriage industry made the roads of New York, to which Stewart shot back, "What do you mean they made the roads? Are the roads made out of horse s---?"

An amazing debate between the two ensued:

Neeson: "These organizations want to put out all this false information about how the horses are treated and these guys treat their horses like their children. Have you been in the stables, Jon?"

Stewart: "If the Division of Family Services ever found out that they're keeping their children in 60-square-foot stalls and feeding them buckets of grain twice a day... That is not good parenting as far as I'm concerned."

Neeson: "He won't even take a meeting with the horse carriage industry. He's supposed to be representing the New York people, dammit!"

Stewart: "From my perspective, it does not look to be a particularly meaningful life for an animal."

Neeson: "But it is a fulfilling life for an animal, they're trained for this."

Stewart: "Unless it's Mr.Ed, we really don't know."

Mayor de Blasio, meanwhile, said at a recent press conference, “I’ll look at the stables,” [But] the bottom line is, we know where we’re going on this.”

Watch Liam Neeson slam de Blasio and argue against Jon Stewart below:

SEE ALSO: Kevin Spacey Slams Politicians As 'Bad Actors'

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Remember when Jean-Claude Van Damme did an epic splits atop two Volvo trucks?

Well, now Linh Mai has made a perfect CGI parody clip that lets us see what it would be like if Van Damme performed the stunt in space, á la "Gravity." All set to the tune of Enya's "Only Time." Watch below:

In case you forgot, here's the original video and the many otherspoofs it has since inspired.

SEE ALSO: Sandra Bullock Will Take Home An Insanely Large Paycheck For 'Gravity'

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On Sunday, millions of people will be watching as celebrities descend upon Hollywood Boulevard to walk the red carpet before heading into the Dolby Theater for the 86th annual Academy Awards.

Last year, we stopped by the Dolby Theater to get a better look at what exactly it takes to prepare for the most-watched red carpet event of the year.

While workmen are quickly trying to transform Los Angeles' Hollywood Boulevard into a red carpet area, the street is anything but glamorous before the Oscar's take it over.

This is what the red carpet looks like during arrivals for the Academy Awards.

But before Sunday's big show, the glamorous red carpet area is just a blocked off, busy street in the middle of a touristy area in Hollywood.

To the right of the carpet, there is a Forever 21 clothing store and Johnny Depp look-a-like from "Pirates of the Caribbean."

The 86th Academy Awards are this Sunday.

If you're still trying to select the winners on your Oscar ballot, this should help you out. 

Each year, John Avello, who is in charge of the sportsbooks at the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, puts out an annual list of Oscar odds. He's been working in the gaming industry for more than 30 years. Over time, he's become the go-to source when it comes to selecting winners.

Earlier this week, he published a full list of Oscar odds that you can view here.

For anyone in an Oscar pool who hasn't made their picks yet, here are the numbers to help with the top five awards.

Best Actor
Matthew McConaughey - 1 to 2
Chiwetel Ejiofor - 4 to 1
Bruce Dern - 25 to 1
Christian Bale - 30 to 1 

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett – 1 to 5 
Sandra Bullock – 10 to 1 
Meryl Streep – 14 to 1 
Amy Adams – 18 to 1 
Judi Dench – 25 to 1

Best Supporting Actor
Jared Leto - 1 to 4
Michael Fassbender - 5 to 1
Barkhad Abdi - 15 to 1
Jonah Hill - 25 to 1
Bradley Cooper - 30 to 1

Best Supporting Actress
Lupita Nyong’o - 4 to 5
Jennifer Lawrence - 8 to 5
June Squibb - 15 to 1
Julia Roberts - 20 to 1
Sally Hawkins - 25 to 1

Best Picture
“12 Years a Slave” – 2 to 5
“American Hustle” - 4 to 1
“Gravity” - 5 to 1
“Dallas Buyers Club” - 15 to 1
“The Wolf of Wall Street” - 30 to 1
“Captain Phillips” - 50 to 1
“Philomena” - 75 to 1
“Nebraska” - 85 to 1
“Her” - 150 to 1 

Those are just the five big categories. View all of the odds here.

SEE ALSO: Everything the losers will take home in the $85,000 Oscar gift bag

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You remember it all too well. Dusting off those much-used cartridges and plugging them into that box that sat just below your TV.

We combed through the best video games of the '80s, and we discovered that those old games still have a ton of life left in them.

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The Oscars are Sunday!

If you're fuzzy on all of the nominees for the 86th Academy Awards, print out a ballot before you head home from work today.

That way you'll be a step ahead of your friends before that Oscar party this weekend. (You may want to print out a few for them as well.)

Not familiar with the nominees? Check out all of the safe bets.

Print it out HERE.

NOW: See the odds for all of the Oscar nominees

SEE ALSO: Before the Oscars red carpet is set up, it's just a gross street in Hollywood

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Cheyenne Randall, a 36-year-old artist living in Seattle, is taking images of iconic figures and photoshopping tattoos all over their bodies.

"I started out by drawing tattoos on certain personalities in magazines and wanted to step it up," he explained on the "Today Show" this morning. "I taught myself Photoshop and thus began a slight obsession with seeing what some of my favorite iconic personalities would look like perhaps if they were in a parallel universe or took another path in life."

But each tattoo he places on a famous face has special meaning, says Randall, who adds that, "It's a lot of fun piecing together and sometimes telling a story with the use of different isolated tattoos."

Randall displays his images on his Tumblr page and his popular Instagram account, which has over 11,000 followers. He has over 2,500 images to date, all inspired by his Native American ancestry.

Take a look at some of the most stunning images below.

Prince William, Kate Middleton, and baby George in "Hipster Royalty Redo":

John Lennon and Yoko Ono in "Have a good week everyone ✌ ":

#fbf with Muhammad Ali:

Linda Carter as Wonder Woman:

Albert Einstein:

Elizabeth Taylor's "MJ" ode to pal Michael Jackson, perhaps?:

Marilyn Monroe:

"In a parallel universe" with Jackie and JFK:

Spock:

Barbra Streisand:

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano:

Audrey Hepburn:

Patrick Swayze:

John Lennon:

Princess Diana:

Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in "The Graduate":

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in "Step Brothers":

Janet Leigh in "Psycho": 

Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia:

SEE ALSO: Here's What The 'Today Show' Hosts Look Like Without Makeup

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A big rainstorm is headed toward Los Angeles, just in time for Oscars Sunday, and the entire town is in a panic.

Jimmy Kimmel mocked local news' ridiculous reactions to the (currently) pretty much non-existent rain, admitting, "We really don't know what to do with ourselves when it rains here."

After compiling the best news clips, Kimmel joked, "between now and Sunday we're expected to get up to six inches of rain, they're saying there could even be flash flooding. How cute would it be to see Ryan Seacrest doing red carpet interviews from a little row boat?"

Kimmel then showed a mashup of news clips stating that California, which is in the midst of a drought, should welcome the "much-needed rain." Watch the funny segment below:

SEE ALSO: Jimmy Kimmel, Olympian Kate Hansen Reveal How They Pulled Off The Sochi Wolf Prank

MORE: Los Angeles Braces For Crazy Traffic And Mudslides As Heavy Rain Hits

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Idina Menzel's "Let It Go" is expected to take home the Oscar Sunday night for Best Original Song.

The song, from Disney's wildly successful "Frozen," has helped propel the movie to more than $985 million worldwide and is expected to take home the Oscar for Best Original Song. 

If you've taken your kids to see the film or inside the Disney store lately you're probably more than familiar with the tune.

However, it's not the most popular Oscar song being streamed right now on Spotify.

We asked Spotify to track the number of times "Let It Go" has been streamed since its debut for Business Insider.

Since the song premiered last year, it has definitely blown up. All together, the song has been played more than 10 million times.

Here are the daily streams since December:

We then asked Spotify to compare that song with the other Oscar nominees — Pharrell's "Happy" (Despicable Me 2"), "The Moon Song" ("Her"), and "Ordinary Love" ("Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom").

As of last Friday, "Happy" has surpassed "Let it Go" in daily streams with exponential growth.

Unlike "Let It Go," the song saw a massive spike after Oscar nominations and subsequent Grammy Awards January 26.

Official Oscar odds currently have "Happy" behind both "Let it Go" and "Ordinary Love."

On the music charts, Pharrell has consistently been beating out its competition. According to Billboard, "Happy" is the highest-charting Oscar-nominated song in more than 10 years.

While the "Despicable Me 2" track has reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Menzel's song has broken the top 20.

Still, Menzel has Pharrell topped when it comes to YouTube views. 

The Disney animated version of her song has gathered more than 115 million views. Pharrell's music video has been seen more than 82 million times. 

We'll see whether Pharrell can edge out Menzel again Sunday night. It would be a huge upset.

More Oscars: Here are the odds on the 2014 Oscar nominations

SEE ALSO: Everything inside the $85,000 Oscar nominee gift bag

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The app store phenomenon, centered on smartphones and tablets, has been the biggest story in software for the past five years.

Its next logical destination: the living room, via smart TVs and set-top boxes connected to the Internet.

Smart TV apps represent the latest threat to the struggling pay TV industry. Watching TV is no longer based around flipping through channels at broadcast, but finding the right content portal for what you want to watch now. 

In a recent report, BI Intelligence looks at the data and trends behind the TV app market, explains why it's still nascent and messy, and why significant growth seems inevitable. A successful TV app platform could significantly shift the balance of power in entertainment, and allow for much greater probabilities of success among newcomers versus incumbents.

Access The Full Report And Data Including The PowerPoint Version By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

Here are the key points about how the TV app ecosystem is evolving:

• The smart TV app revolution is inevitable: People spend four hours in front of their TVs in the U.S., and 63% of all global ad spending goes to TVs. The old guard, represented by cable and entertainment conglomerates, will not be able to fend off improvements like those that apps are bringing to mobile phones.
• The smart TV revolution will not just be led by new TVs with built-in Internet connections, it will also result from consumer adoption of less expensive game consoles or set-top boxes like Roku and Apple TV, which transform traditional TVs into smart TVs with access to app stores. At least 20% of U.S. consumers already have their TVs connected in one of these ways.
• But there are plenty of barriers to a successful TV-based app ecosystem: The existing smart TV app market is way too fragmented between a half-dozen or so immature platforms, and worse — most of these are very difficult to develop for. Chromecast's recent opening of its SDK will be a test case for how platforms might allow outside developers to innovate with TV apps.
• Apple and Google seem like logical TV app leaders: Apple, through its skill of designing and marketing great platforms, and Google, through its prowess in digital video and advertising. Also, pay attention to Samsung and Microsoft, among others. But consumers won't gravitate to smart TV apps until the app stores are stocked with well-curated collections of great software.
• There's a lot at stake here: TV represents the world's biggest advertising market, encompassing some $350 billion in global TV ad spending. TV is also the centerpiece of the world's most important entertainment markets, including TV, gaming, movies, and related services and infrastructure.

The report is full of charts and data that can be easily downloaded and put to use.

In full, the report: 

• Looks at data on Internet -connected TV adoption among consumers
• Digs into new video consumption behavior and explains how an app-centered TV will leverage the trend toward digital video
• Discusses the cast of characters — from media and cable conglomerates to manufacturers and software giants — trying to get into the smart TV space, and who will likely win
• Looks at what consumers are doing on their app-enabled TVs
• Juxtaposes alarming trends in the pay TV market, with healthy growth in Internet-enabled TV usage
• Examines what needs to happen for smart TVs to emerge as a key app development platform

For full access to the report on Smart TV Apps as well as our archive of over 100 in-depth reports and hundreds of charts on all things tech, sign up for a free trial subscription today. 

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As most now know, Jordan Belfort is the real-life swindler on which Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf Of Wall Street" is based.

The Oscar-nominated film is based on the book that Belfort wrote after being released from prison in 2006.

But in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Belfort reveals that the only reason he sat down to write his memoir in the first place was because of his unlikely prison bunkmate, Tommy Chong of "Cheech and Chong."

While Belfort served 22 months in prison in Taft, Calif., for fraud and money laundering, Chong was at the same time serving a nine-month sentence for selling drug paraphernalia.

Belfort explains their unlikely meeting to THR:

When I arrived at Taft, they lost my paperwork, so I spent five days in solitary. It was brutal, absolutely brutal. But it was minimum security, and after solitary it was like a boys' club -- and who's my bunkmate? Tommy Chong from Cheech & Chong. I couldn't believe it.

He was in the process of writing his book. We used to tell each other stories at night, and I had him rolling hysterically on the floor. The third night he goes, "You've got to write a book." So I started writing, and I knew it was bad. It was terrible. I was about to call it quits and then I went into the prison library and stumbled upon The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe, and I was like, "That's how I want to write!"

Chong has said of his time with Belfort, “We had these beautiful vegetarian, healthy meals every night, and Jordan was part of the gang. We had a nice little hierarchy there, intelligent famous guys hanging out together,” adding that Belfort’s arrival “was like Elvis coming to jail."

But despite plenty of writing time on his hands, Belfort struggled to express himself in the way that he wanted.

When you're in jail, you have a lot of time to think about your mistakes. It was completely mellow. I played tennis three hours a day, and I'd write for maybe 12. I wrote about 130 pages, but I tore them up. I just didn't think they were good enough.

It wasn't until after Belfort left prison, in 2006, that he really got serious about his writing process.

I got out of jail and said, "Maybe I should try to write again." I had zeroed out financially. I was 43 years old. I knew this book agent, Joel Gotler, and he said, "Send me some pages and I'll call you next week." The next morning my phone rings and he says, "Who the f--- wrote these pages?!"

... I was a very slow writer, still am. I started writing and didn't leave the house. My only human contact was my children and my ex-wife. She wasn't vindictive at all [unlike her portrayal in the movie].  

It took me about 11 months [to finish the book], seven days a week, 15 hours a day -- my whole life I've been an unbelievable insomniac, and I sleep maybe three or four hours a night. When I got a solid 125 pages, Random House snapped up the book for $500,000 upfront.

Despite million-dollar movie deals being offered his way, Belfort eventually chose the cheaper $330,000 deal that would allow Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio to tell his story. It would only take seven years to actually make the film.

Since its Christmas Day release, "The Wolf Of Wall Street" has raked in $338 million at the global box office and is up for five awards at Sunday's Academy Awards.

Check out Belfort talking "Wolf Of Wall Street" in his Hermosa Beach home in this THR exclusive video:

SEE ALSO: The Real Guy Behind A 'Wolf Of Wall Street' Character Is Suing For $25 Million

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