Jonah Hill really wanted to be in “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
The actor says he took the role of Leonardo DiCaprio’s amoral sidekick Donnie Azoff for a measly $60,000 payday.
“They gave me the lowest amount of money possible, that was their offer,” Hill said in a radio interview with Howard Stern on Tuesday. “And I said, ‘I will sign the paper tonight. Fax me the papers tonight. I want to sign them tonight before they change their mind.’”
The amount, which is before commission and taxes, is the minimum allowed by the Screen Actors Guild according to Hill.
It’s a sum dwarfed by the $10 million DiCaprio hauled in for his starring role as Jordan Belfort, according to the Huffington Post. DiCaprio also helped produce the film.
Hill wasn’t worried about how much he’d make working on the film because he was desperate to work with revered filmmaker Martin Scorsese.
“I would sell my house and give him all my money to work for him,” the “Money Ball” star told Stern. “This isn’t what you make money for. You do ‘22 Jump Street’ or you do other things, and you can pay your rent. I would’ve done anything in the world. I would do it again in a second.”
The move paid off for Hill. The actor has garnered rave reviews for his scene-stealing role as Azoff, and was rewarded with his second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
“Wolf of Wall Street” — which received four more Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Scorsese and Best Actor for DiCaprio — cost $100 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Released on December 25, the site reports that the film has already grossed nearly $170 million in the U.S. and abroad.