JONAH HILL RISKS IT ALL FOR MONEY IN “WAR DOGS”

Press release

He's a two-time Academy Award nominee whose acting prowess has put him at the forefront of Hollywood, in both the comedic and dramatic realms. Now, Jonah Hill stars in the central role of young arms dealer Efraim Diveroli in Warner Bros. Pictures' new comedic drama “War Dogs” (in Philippine cinemas Aug. 24).

Hill says he was intrigued by his character who jumped at the opportunity to reap huge rewards without giving much thought to what he was sowing. Hill remarks, “There’s definitely something enticing about watching people make it rich without following the rules. It’s why I’ve always loved gangster movies…movies where the guys with swagger win. Until they don’t,” he smiles.

Based on a true story, “War Dogs” follows two friends in their early 20s living in Miami Beach during the Iraq War who exploit a little-known government initiative that allows small businesses to bid on U.S. Military contracts. Starting small, Efraim (Hill) and David (Miles Teller) begin raking in big money and are living the high life. But the pair gets in over their heads when they land a 300 million dollar deal to arm the Afghan Military—a deal that puts them in business with some very shady people, not the least of which turns out to be the U.S. Government.

When we meet Efraim and David in “War Dogs,” they don’t appear to be the international arms dealer types. Two middle-class, early-twenty-something guys in Miami Beach, they had been best friends in junior high, but lost touch, as people do. Reunited at the funeral of a mutual friend, they reconnect and start to catch up. David has been eking out a living as a masseuse, but he thinks he has hit on a big idea—selling high-end bed sheets to Miami’s myriad of old folks homes. Efraim is also in sales, but that’s where the similarity ends.

While David has an apartment filled with boxes of unsold sheets and unpaid bills, Efraim has a bank account in the seven figures thanks to FedBizOpps, the government’s marketplace for an infinite variety of military supplies. When Efraim invites David to go into business with him, the answer is obvious.

“Efraim is a great character,” notes Hill. “He gets to be the guy who says, ‘Let’s go down the rabbit hole,’ and he’s so extreme and explosive, I just knew the role was right for me. He wants to be rich and loves the flashy, more surface things in life. That’s what he thinks will bring him happiness. He’s a wheeler-dealer who’s incredibly charming when he needs to be. But there is nothing lazy about him. He has to have enormous drive and intelligence and cunning to maneuver through this world. It made him really interesting to play.”

Director Todd Phillips (“The Hangover” trilogy) says that the role showcased Hill’s great versatility because “Efraim becomes whoever he needs to be in a given situation. He is a chameleon who is able to kind of blend into the person he thinks you want to him to be. It was a really fun aspect of the character for Jonah to play.”

“War Dogs” is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

DESPITE OSCAR NOMS, JONAH HILL WILL ALWAYS THRIVE IN COMEDY

Movie release material

Two-time Academy Award^® nominee Jonah Hill possesses an acting prowess that has allowed him to exist at the forefront of Hollywood, in both the comedic and dramatic realms. Now, two back-to-back dramas (“Moneyball,” “The Wolf of Wall Street”) he gets to showcase his funny chops anew in Columbia Pictures' comedy “22 Jump Street” opposite Channing Tatum.

Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures

“22 Jump Street” is the highly awaited sequel to one of 2012's funniest comedies “21 Jump Street” directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, and featuring terrific chemistry between stars Hill and Tatum. The film took the classic television series’ premise of youthful-looking cops going undercover in a high school and made it all its own.

“My character, Schmidt, Channing's Jenko, are an odd couple,” says Hill. “They got together because they’re partners, but they really worked well together because they brought different things to the table.”

As a result, Schmidt and Jenko became an unforgettable screen couple. “They’re like Bogart and Bacall,” says Phil Lord, who returns to co-direct the film with Christopher Miller, who adds, “They had this amazing natural chemistry. They’re very different, but they really respect and admire each other. They make a great yin-yang pair.”

With the sequel, the filmmakers take the relationship to the next level. If the first film was about forming a relationship, the new film is about what it takes to make a relationship last. “The running gag is that the plot is just like the last one – but in trying to do the same thing again, it doesn’t work, and Schmidt and Jenko have to find something new.”

With that in mind, it also made sense to the filmmakers that “22 Jump Street” would be set in a college. “We got inspired by the idea that Jenko and Schmidt are each other’s ‘hometown honey’ – but they go to college, and the world is opened up to them,” says Lord. “They experience new things and start to wonder whether they’re with the right person or not. For those of us who went to college and had friends who went through that, it seemed honest and true.”

“College is about finding out who you are,” says Hill, who also produces the film. “For example, Schmidt has really defined himself by this partnership with Jenko. In college, he’s struggling to know who he is.”

Meanwhile, Hill and Tatum became very close while filming the first film, forging a strong friendship. “So much of the humor and heart comes from the fact that Channing and I have a really great friendship in real life,” says Hill. “Channing has no boundaries with me, and I feel the same way – I trust his opinion on things.”

“Jonah and Channing love each other,” says Lord. “They’re very different, but their instinct is not to compete with each other – they each admire what the other brings. I think that warmth is what makes it gel.”

Lord says that despite Hill’s screen persona, the actor shares an off-screen confidence with Tatum. “Jonah likes to play a lot of underdogs, but he’s a movie star,” he says. “He has so much confidence.”

Opening across the Philippines on June 18, “22 Jump Street” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

JUMPSTREET’S JONAH HILL IN ANOTHER OUTRAGEOUS COMEDY – “THE WATCH”

After debuting in the comedy “I Heart Huckabees,” Jonah Hill has steadily posited himself as a solid hilarious support in the string of his movies that followed.  Appearing afterwards in acclaimed hits like “The 40-Year Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” “Superbad,” “Forgettting Sarah Marshall,” “Get Him to the Greek,” “Moneyball” and the most recent “21 Jump Street” with Channing Tatum which is Hill’s highest grossing film after “Superbad.”

Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

            His latest movie “The Watch” which is about to open in cinemas this September 5 (in Phils. cinemas) allowed him to work with Ben Stiller, one of moviedom’s great comic talents.  In “The Watch,”  four suburban guys formed a patrol which they tagged as ‘Neighborhood Watch’ after a mysterious incident left a security guard lifeless in the town’s superstore Costco.  Headed by the civic minded Evan (Ben Stiller), he recruits fun-loving family guy Bob (Vince Vaughn), tough-talking ‘wild card’ Franklin (Jonah Hill) and the recent divorcé Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade).

            “When they formed this ‘band of brothers’, the guys thought, sure, they might encounter some weird neighborhood stuff – maybe a burglar here, or peeping tom there – but suddenly they realize they’ve facing something extraordinary,” says producer Shawn Levy, the director of such hits as “Night at the Museum” and “Real Steel.”  “And The Watch is not just unprepared or unqualified, it’s not remotely equipped to deal with this problem; yet it’s all on them to stop it.”

                The youngest member of the team is Franklin (Jonah Hill), a twentysomething, militant looking tough guy with, notes Schaffer “a sweetness just underneath.”  (He still lives at home with his mom.)   So for Franklin, The Watch is the only way he can legally kick ass and take names.   

            Coming off his Oscar®-nominated performance in the drama “Moneyball,” and executive producing and starring in the critically-hailed hit “21 Jump Street,” Hill was not looking to return to the kind of raucous comedy that had propelled him to superstardom (like “Superbad” and “Pineapple Express”), but he “couldn’t resist the chance to perform opposite alongside Ben, Vince and Richard,” notes the actor.  “It was something I had to do.”  Moreover, “if I was going to do another broad comedy, I wanted it to have no basis in reality, and portray a character that could say or do anything.  Plus, anytime you put an extreme amount of danger in the hands of irresponsible people, you know the results are going to be really wild.”

More of Jonah Hill and the movie in this interactive trailer of “The Watch” http://www.youtube.com/thewatchintl.

            “The Watch” is a 20^th Century Fox movie and distributed by Warner Bros. in local cinemas.

JONAH HILL IN “21 JUMP STREET”

Jonah Hill

Jonah Hill has quickly become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after talents, due in part to his dynamic evolution from laugh-out-loud comedy star to Golden Globe, SAG, and Academy Award® nominee for Best Supporting Actor in 2011 for his role in Moneyball, in which he starred opposite Brad Pitt.

             Now, he makes a successful return to the comedy genre with Columbia Pictures' “21 Jump Street,” an R-13-rated movie that took Hollywood box office by storm.

             In the film, Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) were enemies in high school who became unlikely friends in Police Academy. While they may not be the best cops on the beat, they have a chance to turn it around when they join the police department's secret Jump Street unit, run by Captain Dickson (Ice Cube). They trade in their guns and badges for backpacks and use their youthful appearances to go undercover...in high school!

             Jonah Hill's character, Schmidt, is a onetime nerd who finds himself suddenly cool for the first time in his life. “It’s one of the more interesting characters I’ve played,” says the actor. “He just wants to be a good cop, but he has insecurities that date all the way back to high school. When he gets sent back to high school, undercover, he gets drunk with power, forgets about police work, forgets about his friendship with Jenko. He likes living this fake high school life – better than the life he has as a guy in his mid-20s.” So in essence it’s the story of a guy who gets lost in his moment in the sun. 

             Hill, who's also credited as executive producer of “21 Jump Street,” says that the film started with a simple question: "What would it be like to relieve the most important time period of your youth... high school. You think you have all the answers that you didn't have then, but then you get back there and realize those answers are all wrong. You then immediately revert back to the insecurities and problems you had when you were seventeen." 

             Hill wrote the story with Michael Bacall, who wrote the screenplay. “At first, nothing goes as planned for the characters. These guys treat it like wish fulfillment – ‘Oh, if I only knew then what I know now,’” Bacall explains. “But all of the information that they have no longer applies. Jenko – who was always the cool kid back then – falls in with the nerds, and Schmidt – the nerdier of the two – falls in with the cool crowd. It’s a total role reversal.”

             According to Hill, the fact that the show has been off the air for a generation worked to their advantage in devising the story and the tone. “I’ll meet teenagers and I’ll ask them if they know the series – they don’t,” he says. “So I tell them it’s about young-looking cops who go undercover in a high school, and they say, ‘That sounds awesome.’ It’s such a great premise for an action-comedy.”

             “21 Jump Street” is distributed in the Philippines by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.