Jonah Hill Quotations

I 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.

I think this movie, 'Moneyball,' symbolizes becoming a man for me, and I think my character becomes a man. It's important to me: I'm becoming a man. I'm taking my life seriously. I'm taking my acting really seriously, and it's important for me to play adults. It's important for me to change and develop as I get older.

All my friends were in college when I was making 'Superbad.' We were drinking beer and watching movies and eating pizza. It wasn't like I was going to nice restaurants or anything like that, and I lived like a frat guy. Eventually it was time to grow up, be healthy and be responsible. You can't live like a kid forever, you know?

'Funny People' is my favorite performance of myself to date. Even though it's a comedy and there are serious moments, I really felt like Leo felt like a real person. It didn't feel like I was playing myself. Whether it's a comedy or drama, I just try to make it as realistic as possible.

It'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.

Look, at the same time that I don't want to be a celebrity, I understand that when you make movies you put yourself out in the public eye. I'd be a baby and a fool to be like, 'Why are there cameras taking pictures of me?' when I'm on a billboard for a movie. I think that's a very absurd concept.

I've never had issues with popularity. I was always a popular guy... I've always had friends and loved ones and everything, so it wasn't like, 'Oh man, I gotta fill some void that was left by high school.' I had a great high-school experience.

I'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.

I'm an actor, I'm not a comedian, I never was a comedian.

I love it, man; I'm 23 years old and I'm lucky enough to write movies as a job! I just feel really blessed and can't believe it's happening.

I run and do a lot of push-ups and eat healthy.

I 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.

I assume everything I do in life is gonna be a failure, and then if it turns up roses, then I'm psyched.

Germany's amongst my top three places in the world I'd like to live.

One of the greatest moments of my career was on the road promoting 'Superbad' with Michael Cera and Chris Mintz-Plasse. We were showing the movie at colleges.

I play a lot of games on my iPhone. There is a game called Rat on a Scooter that I will promote as much as possible because it has brought me so much joy.

When 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.

Professionally, I feel like I won the lottery and I am the luckiest person in the entire world.

I am a filmmaker fanatic. I have never been star-struck by an actor once in my entire life.

New Orleans is like the bad-kid island in 'Pinocchio.'

Stanley 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.

My heroes are Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman. Those are the two actors that both do comedies and dramas, seamlessly. Also John C. Reilly and Philip Seymour Hoffman. They're all just great actors, neither comedic nor dramatic. They're just great actors.

The fact that the Kardashians could be more popular than a show like 'Mad Men' is disgusting. It's a super disgusting part of our culture, but I still find it funny to make a joke about it.

When I first met the world, basically, or introduced myself to people, I was in 'Superbad,' and I feel the same way I felt promoting 'Superbad' in an underdog style that I feel promoting 'Moneyball.'

Yeah I grew up in the public eye. I became a man in the public eye, which is kind of a bizarre thing to come to terms with. Now I'm in my late 20s and I was in my early 20s when I became recognizable. But I think 'Moneyball' represents a very strong shift in my career and becoming an adult and a man.

I grew up in the '80s in L.A., so Ice Cube and Magic Johnson are my heroes.

I directed my first music video for Sara Bareilles. I like writing and directing. I co-wrote '21 Jump Street' and I'm in that. To me, they all inform the other one. I think writing makes you a better actor, acting makes you a better writer, directing makes you better at both. To me, I'm just trying to learn as much as possible.

I always wanted to be a film-maker when I was younger, not an actor. I was an eight-year-old who dreamed of being a writer on 'The Simpsons,' which was a weird dream to have. But I started taking acting classes as a way to learn how to direct actors and I sort of fell in love with it.

I think a lot of actors, sometimes 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.

I'm sure a bunch of 15-year-old kids would way rather I do 'Superbad 2' than 'Moneyball.' But I would love to do movies like 'Superbad' and movies like 'Moneyball.'

It's almost like, when someone plays poker for the first time, they might be a professional poker player out of ignorance, just accidentally winning. That was how it felt in my first stand-up appearance.

The great romance of your youth is your best friend at that age.

I started writing and acting in these little plays and then I was discovered by Dustin Hoffman. He got me my first audition for a film he was in, called 'I Heart Huckabees.'

You 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.

When you do your comedy and your drama, your acting style doesn't change. If it's a comedy, the situations and the characters might be a little funnier, but you're just trying to be honest.

A whole generation was raised to learn about comedy from 'The Simpsons.' To get to be in a booth with Homer and Marge and be in Springfield - it was unimaginable the emotions that I felt.

I'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.

I mostly make R-rated movies. To make a movie that one day if I have kids or my nephews want t watch, I can show them without being put in prison. It would be really nice.

It's not unexpected for me to be in a comedy film anymore; I'm no longer the underdog in that world.

The hardest thing for me to do, and the best thing I've done and learned as an actor is to sacrifice being funny in certain circumstances in order to do something that makes sense for the story or the character, or emotionally.

I think our culture has gotten so skewed. People assume that because you're an actor you want to write a book to exploit your celebrity, but my celebrity is only a byproduct of me making movies. I have no intention of being a celebrity.

People 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.

'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.

You just have to be strong and don't be stupid; freedom of choice is a big responsibility.

You really feel an obligation to someone when they're trusting you to do something, and you promise that you'll come through for them.

Once you make a movie like 'Superbad,' when it's popular and you're the lead, you get offered all kinds of things and there's a temptation to make bad movies either for the money or to maintain your relevance in pop culture.

Comedies are doing well because I think people want to laugh and not think about everything for a little bit.

Sometimes 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.

I'm too judgmental of other people putting themselves out there in any way, I guess.

Be 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.

There are a lot of things going into making a movie. So many things can go wrong. So many people that need to show up and bring their "A" game. If one thing is out of place, the whole movie can fall apart.

When 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."

The comedy really comes from how badly you want these characters to succeed and with a comedy that's often hard.

I'm sure a bunch of 15-year-old kids would way rather I do 'Superbad 2 than 'Moneyball.' But I would love to do movies like 'Superbad' and movies like 'Moneyball.'

I don't like to say mean things about people's hard work.

When you create something you're free to explore it however you want to do it.

Being in TV is insane. The notes you get sometimes, I just don't understand them.

I've never been into just really silly stuff.

In 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.

As a writer, I haven't delved into dramatic writing. As an actor, I could always, even more so than comedy, do drama.

I have other tastes besides comedy. I love comedy. I adore it, but I love dramatic movies just as much.

I'm a different actor than you thought I was. Don't put me in a box. I'm not just some kid running around screaming curse words.

When 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.

The drama thing was something I've always wanted to do, but the opportunities are rare, and they have to be the right ones.

Luckily with animation, they give you a lot more leeway than a live-action show.

I realized I never played a character that was skilled at anything, or skilled at anything that I couldn't become skilled at.

I couldn't imagine someone playing me or writing a book about who I am. Although I let people write articles and try and express who I am, and it blows up wildly in my face.

I don't like to compare things to other things. It always sounds arrogant in print.

If I ever over hear people saying I give off an 'Ed Harris type of sexy vibe.' I'll be pretty psyched.

I 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.

Besides the fact that I make movies, there's nothing interesting about my life at all, unfortunately.

All 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.

Albert Brooks is definitely one of my biggest influences, for sure.

I believe in collaboration. I think that is the most entertaining and effective way to write for me, personally.

I learn a lot from every director that I work with. I sit on set and watch them, every one.

I just like to act and write and produce. To me, making movies is the ultimate goal.

I grew up in the '80s in L.A., so Ice Cube and Magic Johnson are my heroes.

I would never remake something that was like 'The Godfather.' Things that are truly important to me, I could never remake or reboot, or whatever.

I'm a big hip hop fan.

'21 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.

Writing has made me a better actor. Acting has made me a better writer. So why wouldn't directing make me a better actor and writer?

As an actor, you tell part of a story. As a writer, you get more of telling that story. But as a director, they're seeing the world through your eyes.

I was thin in high school and then I gained weight. I went to a nutritionist. I learned for the first time about what things are healthy to eat, basically.

When I look at interviews from when I was that age, I come off different than how I am because I've matured - and I've matured, become a man in front of the public eye.

I think it's kind of strange when people talk about how hyped-up the movie is. It almost sets you up for a bigger fall.

The 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.

Writing 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.

I always say I want to eventually shift my career to directing and writing.

Maybe if you play somebody in a certain world people sometimes misinterpret that it's a support of that world or that occupation or something.

People 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.

I'm very, very attracted to morally ambiguous characters, not just pure bad guys or pure good guys.

Every 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.

I think morality is so individual and personal, and people draw their own lines of what that means for them.

It's just hard when you're someone who's like hurting a lot of people or deceiving people who trust you, not to bring some of that home with you or inside of you.

I don't watch like Sci-fi or things like that, I'm always more like real life is so endlessly fascinating to me.

I 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.

When you're looking for stories or movies usually the great stories are about people in their 30s or 40s because they've lived more life and they're usually accomplishing more incredible things. But when there's an interesting story about someone that's your age, you immediately - especially when you're younger - are like, "Wow that's crazy! There's not very many of these."

I 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.

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.

Jump Street merging with MiB I think that's clean and rad and powerful.