It's harder to be funny if you're handsome than if you're very normal-looking. It's just more relatable. You're the underdog. I mean it's funny to see people struggle, and you don't buy that Brad Pitt is struggling, you know that guy could be the most skill-less guy in the world, but if you look like that you will be fine for the rest of your life.
Jonah HillComedies are doing well because I think people want to laugh and not think about everything for a little bit.
Jonah HillProfessionally, I feel like I won the lottery and I am the luckiest person in the entire world.
Jonah HillI grew up with baseball; I played in Little League and went to games with my dad. But I, as I grew up, became more of a basketball fanatic than a baseball one.
Jonah HillI really care about this stuff, I care about movies, and you just have to be strong and don't be stupid; freedom of choice is a big responsibility, and I'm lucky enough not to have to just take any movie to pay the rent, so there's no need to be greedy.
Jonah HillWhen I was growing up, my parents asked me what I wanted to do, and I said that I wanted to live in Springfield. They were like, "Well, that's not how it works. There is an actor who play Homer, and someone who writes what Homer says." So, I was like, "Well, I want to write what Homer says."
Jonah HillIf you're trying to make someone happy, you gotta try and make them happy. If you're trying to have a normal conversation, you've got to have a normal conversation. If you're trying to make them sad, you've got to make them sad. I think that's how you get real performances out of people.
Jonah HillWhen someone who is known as a comedic actor goes to drama, it often doesn't work out, because they really just chose wrong, I think - or maybe they're just not good actors, I don't know.
Jonah HillPeople who are just in a restaurant that you would never know are international arms dealers is kind of interesting, they're at the table next to you and you have no idea, you never know what everyone's up to.
Jonah HillPeople are so funny. There's no winning with commenters or anonymous people. They'd be rude that I was overweight, and now they're rude that I'm healthy.
Jonah HillIt's always better to shock people and change people's expectations than to give them exactly what they think you can do.
Jonah HillThe great thing about 'Allen Gregory' is that we try to make it really questionable that the things he says have happened, have really happened. We like that ambiguity.
Jonah HillIt's always better to shock people and change people's expectations than to give them exactly what they think you can do. It's not unexpected for me to be in a comedy film anymore; I'm no longer the underdog in that world. Not that I'm great or good at it or anything, it's just that I've done a bunch of them, so you're not shocked.
Jonah HillEvery time you're directing a movie you're kind of building a temporary business. You're hiring all these heads of departments, and it definitely feels like I'm like a CEO of a very temporary company.
Jonah HillI mostly like documentaries, so I always think things that happened in real life are so astounding that why would you make a movie about something fake.
Jonah HillMaybe if you play somebody in a certain world people sometimes misinterpret that it's a support of that world or that occupation or something.
Jonah HillI mean, I find things that happened in real life to be the funniest - things that you observe instead of crazy abstract things, you know.
Jonah HillWhen a movie like 'Superbad' or 'Moneyball' comes out, people make you feel like you're the most important person on the planet. The truth is, you're a billion percent not the most important person on the planet. It's all insulated in your world and no one could care less. It's just a movie.
Jonah HillI'm really proud of 'Moneyball.' To me, it's about feeling pride in a movie I made. I think when I'm an old man I'll be able to show it to my grandkids with pride. That's all I can really go for: making movies to please me.
Jonah HillI don't watch like Sci-fi or things like that, I'm always more like real life is so endlessly fascinating to me.
Jonah HillBesides the fact that I make movies, there's nothing interesting about my life at all, unfortunately.
Jonah HillI think morality is so individual and personal, and people draw their own lines of what that means for them.
Jonah HillYou have more of a responsibility to make the audience laugh. In comedy, we do have to say, "All right, it's been two minutes in the film. We need another laugh here." With drama, there's no pressure in that regard. It's a different kind of pressure, but it's not like we need to make someone laugh.
Jonah HillIn the comedies I've been lucky enough to be a part of a world like Judd Apatow's, where I believe comedy comes from real people.
Jonah Hill'Allen Gregory' came about because we wanted an animated show and we were just tossing around some ideas about me playing a 7-year-old. We thought that would be cool, because we couldn't do that in real life.
Jonah HillBe open to other people's ideas. Don't get arrogant about your ideas. Shoot a lot of options so you're not stuck with just one version of something.
Jonah HillI believe in collaboration. I think that is the most entertaining and effective way to write for me, personally.
Jonah HillI've learned through experience of playing different characters, some of whom were jerks, that when you play a character who is pretentious or obnoxious, in any way, it's important to knock them down a peg.
Jonah HillAll this stuff is so mind-blowing to me that I get to do in my life. Throwing the first pitch out at the White Sox game on a random Wednesday? Like who am I? How did I get this life? I'm glad I'm not jaded, and little kids are the least jaded people in the entire world, so it's fun to be around people that still find wonder in how cool things are.
Jonah HillSometimes what happens I think is that actors finish a movie and they go, oh my god, I'm never going to work again, even big huge actors, and so they'll take something thinking that something else will never come along. But for me, I freak out - because I'm a bit of a workaholic - the second I finish a movie going oh my god, what am I going to do, but I can start writing the next day so it doesn't force me to make a bad choice acting-wise.
Jonah HillI love my parents. But I'm almost 28 and it's not fun to be asked, 'What are you doing today? What do you want for dinner? When are you going to be home?' It just makes you feel like a kid. It's this juxtaposition of feeling annoyed and really lucky to have people who love you so much.
Jonah Hill21 Jump Street is great. I just made that, and produced it and was a writer on it. It's starring myself and Channing Tatum, and maybe some surprise guests.
Jonah HillThe comedy really comes from how badly you want these characters to succeed and with a comedy that's often hard.
Jonah HillWriting is as big a part of my career as acting is, financially and time wise. So, yeah, I love it. That's all I wanted to do since I was young was be a writer. So that and acting are the two most important aspects of my career.
Jonah HillStanley Kubrick made Shelly Duvall go crazy during 'The Shining.' It's like one of the best performances ever. Maybe he shouldn't have gone that far, but I love that movie.
Jonah HillI like playing characters that, you know, a couple could go see the movie and one person could love him and one person could hate him.
Jonah HillI am a filmmaker fanatic. I have never been star-struck by an actor once in my entire life.
Jonah Hill