Jonah Hill isn't opposed to trying drugs for a film role.
The 29-year-old actor is earning rave reviews for his role as Donnie Azoff in new period crime caper 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and he admits he would have "genuinely" liked to try a discontinued sedative-hypnotic substance called quaalude, production on which was halted in 1985 due to addiction and widespread misuse, to prepare for the role.
He said: "I tried as hard as I could to find a quaalude, and I could not find any. I mean, I'm not, like, a drug person, but I genuinely would've tried one to see."
Instead, the actor was provided a "drug expert" on set and also relied on the expertise of his director, Martin Scorsese, 71, who had first-hand experience with the drug.
The filmmaker added: "I also remembered things from years ago. I had my times. I said, 'You try to form the word, but it isn't there.' The tongue and the mouth, the palate just won't respond."
Jonah confessed was awestruck when he first began work on the film because he is such a huge fan of both Scorsese and his co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.
He recalled to The Hollywood Reporter: "The first rehearsals were just the three of us. For me, obviously, it was intimidating - this is my favourite director and my favourite actor, and now I was working with them. You have to check that at the door at some point."
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