Jonah Hill says he was paid $60,000 for his role in the Oscar-nominated film "The Wolf of Wall Street."
The actor spoke with Howard Stern Tuesday (Jan. 21) about landing the gig with director Martin Scorsese.
"They gave me the lowest amount of money possible, that was their offer," he said, "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' ... I said, 'I wanna sign them before I go to sleep tonight so they legally can't change their mind.'"
He went on to explain that his pay deal was the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) minimum, which is "something like $60,000 before commissions and taxes." Leonardo DiCaprio, he said, likely made more for his work on the film -- about $10 million -- which took seven months to shoot. (DiCaprio was also a producer on "The Wolf of Wall Street.")
"I would sell my house and give him all my money to work for him," added Hill. "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 ... This s--t isn't about money. You should do things that you care about."
Hill scored an Oscar nomination -- his second -- for the role of corrupt Donnie Azoff.
Last month, Hill told Rolling Stone he no longer takes on roles that he isn't "incredibly passionate about."
"It’s a lesson that took me some time to learn," he said. "There were movies that I 'had to do' that I 'couldn’t not do.' When you're a young actor you have this constant fear that there will be no work. I would say yes to anything and everything, whether or not I was passionate about it. Now, for my own benefit, and for the people who want to come see my work, I owe it to them to do roles that I am personally moved by."
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