Jonah Hill Making Directorial Debut With ‘Mid ’90s’
WhenJonah Hillfirst burst onto the scene, he seemed like just another Seth Rogen type – indeed, one of his first breakout roles was as, essentially, a Rogen stand-in inSuperbad. But over the years, he’s matured into a fine dramatic actor as well, scooping up a pair of Oscar nominations forMoneyballandThe Wolf of Wall Street, and even branched out into writing with theJump Streetmovies and the TV showAllen Gregory. Now he’s getting ready to open yet another new chapter in his Hollywood career, this time as a director.
Having worked with some pretty impressive directors over the years, from Martin Scorsese to Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Hill is preparing to step behind the camera himself for the very first time withMid ’90s, a mid-’90s coming-of-age dramedy that he also wrote.
Variety reports thatMid ‘90scenters on “a young boy coming up in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s learning life lessons with his skateboarding crew of friends.” Hill probably knows a thing or two about that topic, as he himself was a young boy coming up in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s (though we don’t know if he learned any life lessons with a skateboarding crew of friends). However, Hill does not plan on acting in his movie.
Powerhouse producerScott Rudin, who worked with Hill onMoneyball, is on board, along withEli Bush(Steve Jobs) and A24. There’s no word yet on when shooting will get underway, and with Hill’s crowded schedule it’s tough to guess where he’ll find the time. Hill was most recently seen in the Coen brothers’Hail, Caesar!and has two more films due out this summer,War DogsandSausage Party(the latter of which just had awork-in-progress screeningat SXSW). In addition, he’s expected to return as Schmidt in theJump Street/Men in Blackcrossover, and recently signed on forManiac, a Cary Fukunaga-directed series that justfound a home at Netflix.
AlthoughMid ‘90swill be Hill’s first feature film as a director, his latest career move doesn’t come as a total surprise. Hill has hinted at directorial aspirations before, and in 2011 directed a music video for Sara Bareilles’ “Gonna Get Over You.”
