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JONAH HILL on 'ACCEPTED'
Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor
for Radio Free Entertainment
July 29, 2006
When Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long), a street-smart but unmotivated high school graduate, fails to get accepted by a single college, he concocts an elaborate scheme with the help of his best friend (Jonah Hill) to create a fictitious university called the South Harmon Institute of Technology. But problems arise when their ruse is too convincing, and a fully-functioning website capable of taking applications leads to a flood of similarly-rejected collegiate prospects showing up on their doorstep. Bartleby is suddenly faced with the responsibility of educating an entire student body, all while dealing with his parents' expectations and pining for the girl of his dreams (Blake Lively).
Accepted is a fun and entertaining comedy, and if all institutes of higher learning were like South Harmon, with their unstructured classes and first-rate party facilities, college really would live up to the old cliche of being "the best years of your life."
In this interview, Jonah Hill talks about working on Accepted, and compares himself to his high-strung, tech-savvy character.
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The Interview
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MEDIA: You're good friends with your co-star, Justin Long. How did the two of you meet?
JONAH: Um, J-Date? No, kidding. [laughs] I type in "Catholic" and "fun." Justin and I, we knew each other a little bit before this, and then we just became really good friends during the course of the movie, playing best friends, and we both had a similar sense of humor. And you know, he is an awesome guy, really cool guy. It's good in this business, I'm learning in my short time, when you meet someone who you genuinely think is cool to stay friends with them, because it's more few and far between than probably other businesses, of people like actually being cool, down-to-earth, kind of normal guys.
We understand there was a liberal amount of improv in this movie. What's the process?
I'd say yeah. [laughs] They were so great, [producer Tom Shadyac] and [director Steve Pink] and everybody and the writers and the studio, of just kind of letting Justin and I, even before we started shooting, just write a lot of jokes and things. 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, and it feels like it's actually a person saying it, as opposed to like a line you've read a million times. And 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, that they let me do that, and Justin do that. And it was like such a fun, collaborative effort on everybody's part.
How did you feel about the movie being "toned down" to get a PG-13 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, you know? And seeing it now, I'm so glad it is PG-13, because I think more people can see it. And a lot of times, R-movies are just R-movies for the sake of being R-movies. (And I say "R-movies" a lot in one sentence, as you can just tell. I said it like 15 times.) And 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? Like, as opposed to needing it. And 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. [laughs] I'm not going to lie.
Are you anything like your character? Are you the voice of reason amongst your friends?
No, that's not me at all. [laughs] I shoot first and ask questions later. I'm also just way more laid back than my character is in the movie, which was so fun to play like an uptight kind of high-strung guy, because in my real life, my friends...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, because 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 whim. And it's just funny to me to watch it because it's like I just seem kind of not like that so much.
Could you make a website, like your character does?
No. I can barely check my e-mail. My manager's sitting over here, and he knows that I didn't start checking e-mail until about like a year ago. I had never realized that that's something a human being should do. I go by carrier pigeon. That's what I was doing for a long time. I have a really great pigeon if you guys need one.
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Have you ever come up with a ridiculously convoluted scheme?
I'd say 90% of my life is a ridiculous, convoluted scheme. [laughs] Yes. I have an older brother, and when I was probably 10 and he was 16, he had just gotten his license and he borrowed my mom's car. And he had degraded me the day before. He had poured a Diet Coke on my head in front of his friends. We're like best friends now, but when we were young...It's hard...So I'm kind of one of those guys who actually, no matter what age I was, kind of really didn't like taking crap from people. And my brother poured a Diet Coke on my head, and I was so angry, and my best friend, Matt and I...They were doing construction on our neighbor's house. We stole a bucket of nails, and we lined the entire driveway with nails, and it took us like 4 hours to do it. And we were like, "We are geniuses. There's nothing that could go wrong with this plan. It's the best plan ever and there's nothing that could happen bad." So then my dad gets home from work early and drives in the driveway before my brother does, and all four of his tires pop. And it was the most trouble I ever got in in my life. I didn't leave my room for like months. We heard a car coming and we ran outside, and we were just sitting there in the bushes waiting, and then we just see my dad's face like go from completely normal, like, "I'm home from work, I'll watch a little TV, read a book" to like, "What is happening!" and get out of the car. And then we're just like, "Oh my God." So that's just one of many, probably, dumb things I've done in my life. [laughs]
What bogus class would you like to take?
I love music, so I would have like a really cool like history of rock n roll, probably. I think that would be an awesome class...Like my friend in college, he went to USC and took this awesome like "History of the Beatles" class. I would have like an extensive history of all my favorite bands. Like the Beatles, and the Clash...Or a history of comedy. I think that would be an awesome class, too.
Those things probably actually exist...
I should probably look into college at some point before I answer this question ever again. [laughs] I'm like, "What about a music class? I mean, can you guys dig it? Come on!"
Given your improvisational process, how key was it hooking up with Judd Apatow and that whole group?
It is my ultimate dream come true. It was like the one thing I wanted to do, and I'm so lucky that I'm close with those guys...Like 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, and we just worked so well together. Like I've never worked with someone who you feel like it's a meeting of the minds...And Seth and all those guys are just so awesome. And Judd's given me [a lot of opportunities]. Like 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 producing the first movie I'm starring in, which is so cool...And it's literally like a dream come true for me. Like I couldn't be [happier].
Do you do anything differently to prepare for a starring role, or do you just do your thing?
I do a lot to [prepare]. I mean, it is like a boot camp, especially with Judd, in a great way, of like roundtables all the time of the script and coming up with new jokes and new ideas. I do a lot of writing with him. And also, I've never been like the main, main guy in a movie before, so I'm very much looking forward to that. But also, it's like extraordinarily tiring. I think that's the [big] thing, is like just getting a lot of sleep. Because I get home, I want to watch Conan, or write, or read. It's more like, you have to force yourself to go to bed at 8 o'clock when you get home, or 10 o'clock, which, for me, is like impossible because I'll screw around and read comics and stuff all night. But yeah, I'm looking forward to it, and it'll be an interesting experience.
What will going Hollywood mean for you?
Absolutely nothing, man. I still do the same things now that I did when I was 18, but hopefully a little more matured. I kind of just hang out with my friends. I live with Justin who's a really good friend of mine. I'm moving in with three of my best friends from high school. The concept of Hollywood doesn't exist for me.
Are your friends not "in the business"?
A couple of them want to maybe work in the film business. One of them is going to maybe work for the Clippers. I don't like the idea of "you're an actor so you have to go to cool parties and do stuff like that." It's stupid to me. It's all a fake facade, kind of. We all just do a job and go home and do whatever it is you do and hang out with the people you love, so I hope I would kick my ass if I would ever change in any slight way--and all the people that are here in this room with me would, too. So I don't think it's going to change me at all. I'm just really lucky to get to be funny for a living.
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