Jonah Hill shares his secret acting tips and how to survive in Hollywood.
Jonah Hill became an overnight success after his movie Superbad. But, few people would have thought he would become one of the biggest actors in Hollywood and work alongside Academy Award winning actors, filmmakers and producers. And while he still enjoys working as a comedic actor, Hill has developed an acting style that allows him to transition from action to even the most sobering of dramas.
In an interview with the New York Times, Hill opened up about his method of choosing roles and getting into character and how it has changed since his early days as an actor.
Why he became an actor
Hill came around to acting because he was encouraged by his teachers. He explains, “In school I was always a decent athlete, a decent student, but I was never exceptional at any of that stuff. When I started taking acting classes, it was the first time teachers were like, ‘You’re good and you should keep doing this.’”
Choosing movie scripts
While Hill used to choose roles by reading the movie script, he has realized that in many cases a bad script doesn’t always lead to a bad product. He reveals, “If you have a great script, it’s hard to fuck it up — but I’ve kind of had that happen. And I’ve had scripts that were not even complete, and the director was amazing, and I ended up being proud of the movie.” In fact, Hill now mostly chooses his roles by who is directing the project because even if a movie that appears so-so has a great character, he points out, “You don’t want to be a cool character in a bad movie.”
Listening to music to get into character
The most interesting part of the interview he explains is that the type of music he listens to before every scene in order to get into character. For example, in his new movie War Dogs, Jonah Hill says he listened to “a lot of cheesy, baller-y Miami booty bass… I imagined him listening to music that revved him up to lie to someone. A lot of the people with confidence that you play, you try to find their deep insecurity. I don’t think Efraim is a deeply, deeply insecure person.”
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