I was told this morning by a trusted source that despite sobering reports from In Contention‘s Kris Tapley and The Hollywood Reporter‘s Pamela McLintock about Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street possibly getting bumped into 2014 by Paramount due to concerns about its length, the intention of Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker is to finish and deliver the film in time for release in December. This would be glorious news if true. We need all the award-season nutrition we can get. The instant I heard this I checked with a Paramount source and with Schoonmaker herself for a confirmation…radio silence. But at least there’s hope.

I’ve also heard from two sources that the initial cut that Scorsese showed to Paramount execs or or about the weekend of 9.20 (or roughly two and a half weeks ago) might have been as long as three hours and 50 minutes. (McLintock’s 9.24 story said sources told her it ran 180 minutes.) A publicist with limited knowledge of the situation says she’s been told that the plan to is whittle the bear-sized cut down to three and a half hours, although a more reasonable goal (at least from an exhibitor point of view) would be to trim it down to three hours. Put the super-long version on the Bluray — simple.

The version of Terrence Winter‘s Wolf script that I read a few weeks ago didn’t scream “three hours plus” — it felt like two and half or a bit more. But what do I know? I’ll tell you what I know. I know that this slowly metastasizing feeling of depression that had come over me since Tapley and McClintock‘s “whither Wolf?” stories lifted somewhat this morning. Here’s wishing and hoping that the other shoe will drop and Scorsese’s film will be out sometime around Christmas.