Jonah Hill plays Sherman, the responsible, intelligent friend who tries to keep his buddies out of trouble in the comedy movie, Accepted, directed by Steve Pink. No one listens to his suggestions yet when everything he predicted comes true, they turn to Sherman to help get them out of trouble. In real life, Hill says he’s nothing like this character. He’d definitely be the guy coming up with the crazy schemes rather than the one thinking things through.
The Freedom to Improvise on the Set of Accepted: ”They were so great, Tom [Shadyac, producer] and Steve [Pink, director] and everybody and the writers and the studio, at just kind of letting Justin [Long] and I write, even before we started shooting, just write a lot of jokes and things. It was just so cool of just them to let [us improv].
My style, I feel like it's a waste to hire me, kind of, if you're not going to let me do that because that's when I think the best stuff comes out. It feels like it's actually a person saying it, as opposed to like a line you've read a million times. Sometimes you find jokes that day when you're there and you're looking at the set, and they were so cool. You know, most of the stuff in the movie that I say is stuff that I kind of came up with, which is so cool to me, like that they let me do that - and Justin do that. It was such a fun, collaborative effort on everybody's part, you know?”
The PG-13 Rating vs. an R-Rating: ”Before the movie started we had a long debate, where I remember Justin and I really, adamantly wanting it to be an R-rated movie. And seeing it now, I'm so glad it is PG-13 because I think more people can see it. A lot of times, R-movies are just R-movies for the sake of being R-movies. I say 'R-movies' a lot in one sentence, as you can just tell. I said it like 15 times. They're like, ‘Well, it's an R-rated movie, let's throw boobs in there, or a lot of F-words.’ You know what I mean? As opposed to needing it. I think this movie doesn't need that kind of stuff because I think it's funny and fun on its own, without having like just gratuitous nudity or language or violence or anything like that. Which is fun, also (laughing). I'm not going to lie.”
Jonah Hill Isn’t the Voice of Reason: Hill says he’s nothing like his character in Accepted, the one who tries to get his buddies not to do anything crazy. “No, that's not me at all. (Laughing) I shoot first and ask questions later. I think that's more my [style]. I'm also just way more laidback than my character is in the movie, which was so fun to play like an uptight kind of high-strung guy. My two best friends from high school came to San Diego and saw the movie at Comic-Con and just were laughing so hard at how different this character is than me. I'm always just like, ‘Hey, whatever, let's do it.’ I don't really plan things out, and I kind of just do things on a limb and...on a whim, not a limb. Like an arm or a leg or something. It's just funny to me to watch it because it's like I just seem kind of not like that so much.”
Hooking Up with Judd Apatow: Given how much Hill likes to improvise, getting the chance to work on a film with Apatow was a dream come true. Hill had a supporting role in Apatow’s The 40 Year Old Virgin and is working with him again on Super Bad (which Apatow produces) and Knocked Up (written, directed and produced by Apatow).
“It was like the one thing I wanted to do,and I'm so lucky that I'm close with those guys. Between Judd and Tom Shadyac... If you had asked me a few years ago who were the people I'd want to work with, those would be the names I would have given you. I literally stalked Judd. I was like, ‘How do I get in contact with this guy?’ And then my manager introduced me to his casting director, and then we met, and thank God he responded well to what I was doing. We just worked so well together. I've never worked with someone who you feel like it's a meeting of the minds, and Seth [Rogen] and all those guys are just so awesome.
I'm in Knocked Up, which I think is going to be such a great movie, and I play Seth's best friend. And then he's letting me...he's producing the first movie I'm starring in, which is so cool. And Super Bad is literally like a dream come true for me. I couldn't be [happier]. It's like if you had said, ‘Work with whoever you want,’ that's who I would say. So it's like a dream come true.”
Page 2: Jonah Hill on His Upcoming Movies
