The actor was so committed to the role that he ended up contracting an illness
We all know that illegal substances don’t do your health any favours, but it turns out that even snorting a fake version of the hard stuff isn’t much better, either.
Just ask Jonah Hill, who was hospitalised after shovelling a load of vitamin powder up his hooter for about seven months.
The Superbad star, 40, explained that he became ‘very sick’ after portraying Donnie Azoff in 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street due to his character’s excessive drug use.
He starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, who played playboy stockbroker Jordan Belfort, in the debauchery-drenched Martin Scorsese flick and between them, they got through a boatload of gear.
In the fictional world that is, of course.
Because in reality, the actors were sniffing lines of vitamin D powder on set, in replacement of actual cocaine.
And although this might sound like a simple swap, Hill found out the hard way that putting any kind of substance up your nose doesn’t really end well.
The comedian revealed that he ended up needing medical attention after starring as Azoff – who is loosely based on the real-life stock broker and convicted fraudster Daniel Porush – because he contracted bronchitis.
During an appearance on the US talk show Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons in 2016, Hill explained: “I did so much fake cocaine in Wolf Of Wall Street, I got bronchitis for three weeks. I had to be hospitalised.
“It’s vitamin powder but it doesn’t matter, because if you ingest that much matter into your lungs, you will get very sick. We were literally doing fake coke for, like, seven months, every day.”
Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio shovelled a lot of fake cocaine up their noise while filming The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)
Even though it landed him in the ER, there was one perk – he didn’t have to worry about getting rickets.
“I’ve never had more vitamin D in my entire life; I could have lifted a car over my f****** head,” Hill laughed.
He went on to explain how he psyched himself up to play a character hopped up on narcotics while being sober himself.
The Don’t Look Up actor continued: “It’s interesting pretending to be on drugs.
“I’ll use music. I’ll make a playlist for every scene, so I’ll try to make, like, music that [makes me feel] jittery and chaotic… and then just drink a ton of coffee and Red Bull.”
Although filming The Wolf of Wall Street probably landed Hill a big hospital bill and an over reliance on caffeine, he didn’t have a huge pay cheque to cushion the blow for him.
The actor revealed he ended up with bronchitis after snorting vitamin D powder for around seven months (Michael Ostuni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
In 2014, he told The Howard Stern Show that he was paid ‘the lowest amount of money possible‘, but he wasn’t bothered.
Hill said: “That was their offer. I said, ‘I will sign the paper tonight. Fax me the papers tonight’.
“I said I want to sign them before I go to sleep tonight, so they legally can’t change their mind.”
Radio host Stern then cut in to clarify if that meant the actor ‘got paid $60,000 (£48,723) for that movie’.
Hill continued: “It was the minimum. I think SAG minimum is something like $60,000 before commissions and taxes.
“Yeah, for an almost seven-month shoot. I would sell my house and give him all my money to work for [Scorsese] … I would have done anything in the world. I would do it again in a second.”
