This is the first film for producers Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland under their Red Granite banner. According to them, they decided to finance this film as a challenge in response to the idea that no studio was willing to finance an explicit, over-the-top sex-laced film with a large budget (produced at around $100,000,000). Aziz and McFarland were formerly investment bankers, and the bulk of the funding came from their investors' contacts in Mid-West Asia. One company in particular, a development fund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) led by the Malaysian then-Prime Minister Najib Razak (and Aziz' stepfather), contributed an alleged $64 million. This was following mediation by Malaysian businessman Jho Low who had befriended Leonardo DiCaprio and learned of the difficulties of financing the movie through traditional means. Ironically enough for a film about financial corruption, both Razak and Low later got embroiled in a scandal when they were charged of siphoning 1MDB money to their own accounts to finance their lavish lifestyles (Low even went into hiding). The producers finally paid $60 million in a settlement over charges that the film had been financed by embezzled investor money.

Film

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