Jonah Hill Plays MONEYBALL

Jonah Hill started his film career in comedies such as SUPERBAD and FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, but his roots are in writing, and his goal is to be a serious actor. When I spoke to him on September 16, 2011, the conversation moved from MONEYBALL, and the journey his character, Peter Brand, makes during the course of the baseball epic, to my personal favorite of all of Hill’s roles, the title character in CYRUS. It’s a part that let Hill combine his gifts for comedy, drama, and writing. Though, as he reveals, that last was a skill he was reluctant to use because of his respect for the script devised by the Duplass brothers, Mark and Jay. (For Jay Duplass on that film, click here). We finished up with his love for the character of Rupert Pupkin in Martin Scorsese’s KING OF COMEDY, and why Hill chose a seven-year-old as his protagonist in his new animated series, Allen Gregory.

Based on book of the same name by Michael Lewis, MONEYBALL is the true story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane and his revolutionary approach to building a winning team that doesn’t have the financial resources to buy stars. Hill plays Peter Brand, the statistician who opens Beane’s eyes, and then joins him for the rocky ride through a baseball season that will make or break both the theory and the pair who champion it. Hill’s previous work includes GET HIM TO THE GREEK and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, and a turn that was chilling, moving, and wildly funny in and as CYRUS. He is the co-creator, co-writer, and the voice of the title character in the new animated series, Allen Gregory, about a preternaturally intellectual and erudite seven-year-old which will debut in the dream slot after The Simpsons on October 30.