Jonah Hill was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the Oscar race for his role in The Wolf of Wall Street , but the star was paid a paltry $60,000 for the role.
Hill said he didn’t mind the pay cut if it meant working with director Martin Scorsese.
Speaking to reporters this week at the 86th Oscars Nominee Luncheon, Jonah Hill said it was a lifelong dream to work with the legendary director.
“[He] is my favorite filmmaker of all time,” Hill said. “ Goodfellas is the reason I … spend my life making movies.”
Jonah Hill said he’d actually be willing to do more than just take a pay cut for Scorsese.
“I would paint his house if he asked me to,” he joked. “Money is never a concern to work with people like Martin Scorsese.”
As much as Jonah Hill loved working with Martin Scorsese, he hated the character he played. Hill portrayed Donnie Azoff, who is on a downward spiral in the movie.
Hill said it was difficult to any redeeming qualities in Donnie.
“They say you’re not supposed to judge the character at all and I tried my hardest, but I couldn’t really find that much I really liked about Donnie,” he said. “I just didn’t like the way that Donnie treated people, that was the thing I had the hardest time with.”
Jonah said there was one scene in particular that was difficult.
“There’s a scene with a goldfish where I throw a lit cigarette at this kid and make him cry and fire him and eat his goldfish and it’s really degrading,” he said. “On the way home I would just be like, ‘Oh gosh, what did I do today?’ I would feel bad.”
But Jonah Hill can likely get over the degradation pretty quickly if he can walk home with an Oscar.