Great Character: Donnie Azoff (“The Wolf of Wall Street”)

This month’s theme: Sidekick. Today: Guest poster Jason Cuthbert looks at Donnie Azoff from The Wolf of Wall Street.

White picket fence teeth. Pastel pink, purple and turquoise wardrobe. Green-with-envy desire for money. Red-hot Crack, Coke and Quaalude habits. All of these distinctive hues paint Donny Azoff as arguably the most colorful character Jonah Hill (Superbad, Knocked Up) has ever hopped inside of. Apparently the Academy Awards also agrees, granting Hill his second Oscar Award nomination, following his Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role nod for playing the mathematical baseball strategist Peter Brand in Moneyball.

In the hands of master moviemaker director Martin Scorsese, Jonah Hill gives Leonardo DiCaprio’s stock market schemer Jordan Belfort a formidable money-hungry sidekick in The Wolf of Wall Street. And boy, does this Wolf Pack have their share of Hangovers.

The Wolf of Wall Street from IMDB:

Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.

The real Jordan Belfort, with advice from Tommy Chong (Cheech & Chong) while they were both prison-mates, turned his days of decadent dollar sign debauchery into a cautionary tell-all published memoir of the same title that screenwriter Terence Winter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire) adapted. If we exclude the F-word documentary that was literally called Fuck, The Wolf of Wall Street contains the most F-bombs ever launched in a feature length narrative film — 569. With a running time of 179 minutes, that is just over three “F Words” per minute, many of which uttered by the abrasive potty mouth of Donny Azoff.

DONNIE AZOFF: Oh my God, the emperor of Fucksville came down from Fucksville to give me a pass! Hey, what are the citizens of Fucksville doing today when their emperor’s gone? Is it, is it mayhem?

With his dentally enhanced chompers, his intellectual lenses and his preppy country club dress code (for every occasion), Donnie is extremely image conscience. But after one glimpse of his apartment building neighbor Jordan Belfort’s Tweedy Bird yellow Jaguar, Donnie Azoff is ready to live this guy’s life instead, by any means necessary.

DONNIE AZOFF: You show me a pay stub for $72.000; I quit my job right now and work for you.

This brilliantly played restaurant introduction of Donnie Azoff to Jordan Belfort, and to us the audience as well, is the type of intensely confident sales pitch, selling himself to a complete stranger (Belfort), that proves Donnie is cut out for the relentless Wall Street hustle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLn5s8s3kpM

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Even though this guy seems to be internally submerged in shame and refuses to admit it; his actions express it clearly. He is all too willing to quit his blue collar gig to bank everything on the lark that he might make massive money with a dude that he has just met in a diner moments before. Not to mention the fact that he has a crack addiction that he is not embarrassed about sharing with his new financial friend.

While Donnie may be very sincere about craving money and the luxurious exploits that it can finance, he is much less excited about his domestic home life. He’d rather meekly attempt to convince Jordan, and himself, that being married to a first-cousin is completely normal. If we had to call Donnie’s wife by name, we probably could only remember the moniker that Donnie refers to her as most frequently, “Ugly.” They also have two kids, regardless of the risk for birth defects associated with their conception. As a matter of fact, Donnie even hides this wife that he is clearly not proud of from us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ4TSgQ9Nso

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After becoming flush with cash, Donnie Azoff’s private humiliation evolves into the primal urges of a Life Without Shame. This family man also made time for public masturbation, suspected gay club outings, wild orgies, street corner prescription drug marathons and Wall Street corruption that was in the hundreds of millions. Even his childhood friend Steve Madden gets talked into becoming a client of this stock exchange anarchy.

DONNIE AZOFF: Sweetheart, you have my money taped to your tits. Technically you do work for me.

Donnie Azoff is an epic example of a rope being used in a violent tug-of-war between greed and responsibility. Standing on a never-ending stack of other people’s money gave Donnie the bravado normally associated with heavy weight boxers and foreign dictators. Azoff may not have felt like a boss in any facet of his life pre-Jordan Belfort. But after jacking the jackpot, he had the gusto to wield his presumed power at co-workers, associates, prostitutes and even federal subpoenas that he peed on (pun intended).

For his feisty, brazen sincerity, his provocative purging of shame while committing even bigger shame and for those teeth that refused to bite the two hands that fed them — Donnie Azoff is the GREAT CHARACTER of Jonah Hill’s career…so far.

Thank you, Jason, for this post. Please join us in Comments to discuss Donnie Azoff in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.

You may follow Jason on Twitter: @A2Jason.

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