By Gill Pringle
“I got really sick,” Jonah Hill responds to that very question. “I got bronchitis during the shooting of The Wolf Of Wall Street because I had ingested so much fake cocaine, which is just Vitamin D. It’s a powder, and it’s either Vitamin B, or Vitamin D. That’s the stuff that I use, so I knew from that movie to use it on War Dogs. But I got bronchitis on that movie, really, really bad, because I ingested so much of it. This time, it was less a part of the character’s story. It was just showing that he is self-medicating, maybe, or, in those terms, partying, but probably both. But yeah, it’s just like vitamin powder, or something like that.”
In War Dogs – director Todd Phillips’ (The Hangover) take on a truly bizarre true story – Hill plays the ruthless and ambitious Efraim Diveroli, who teams with his buddy, David Packouz (Miles Teller), to try their luck at arms dealing. Incredibly, the duo discovered that the bidding process employed by The Pentagon was open to exploitation by someone who knew how to shave points off every margin. Soon they were rolling in cash (and cocaine) and neck deep in trouble, struggling to fulfill a $300 million contract to supply American allies in Afghanistan. “The movie’s very funny, because some of the things that these guys say or do are very funny, but the movie’s a drama. It just happens to be very funny. It’s not like a silly comedy…it takes the subject matter seriously. These guys are just morons,” he laughs. “It’s not making a goof out of the subject. These guys behaved in very inappropriate ways, which on screen are humorous. But we’re not dismissive of what it’s actually talking about.”
And if you’re thinking that War Dogs may have just a little in common with Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf Of Wall Street, then you’d be right. “They’re both movies about people who find these loopholes, which are morally, some would say bankrupt, and some would say questionable,” Hill offers. “I’m drawn to people who really will do anything to succeed. It’s a fascinating character to play. What do people do when they throw out their morals, and their ambition to be a good person, where success comes first and money comes first? That brings people to a really ugly and interesting place, and I enjoy exploring that as an actor.”
Is that how Jonah Hill chooses his roles? “I always choose stuff that I like, and hope that other people will like too,” the actor laughs. “I just try and choose things that are really interesting to me, and I really just cross my fingers, and hope that a few other people will too. I don’t think you can make decisions for other people. As an actor, all you’ve got is your choices of what you decide to be in. Sometimes you get lucky. But often, you do things where you go, ‘I’d want to see that.’”
War Dogs is released in cinemas on August 18. Stay tuned to FilmInk for much more on the film.
