This interview was originally published on MTV.com.
‘CYRUS’ STAR JONAH HILL WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU’D TREAT HIM LIKE A PERSON, NOT A PUNCHLINE
by Brooke Tarnoff
Jonah Hill isn’t “Superbad.” He’s not even kindabad. The real Hill — not to be confused with the continuous stream of foul-mouthed miscreants he plays -– is more mellow than you’d expect. In fact, he admits he’s getting a little tired of trotting out his zany alter-egos for every interview. If only we’d known – we’d have given the “Cyrus” star a break.
MTV: So I loved the movie. Cyrus is a pretty challenging guy. Were you able to find something about him you liked?
JONAH HILL: Yeah, that’s what’s interesting. A lot of people say that to me like, why actors say you have to find something you love about the person. And for me, it wasn’t so much finding something that I loved about him; I sympathized with him. I don’t like him as a person. But I feel bad for him as a person, and I sympathize with him because he was raised incorrectly. His mom loved him, and there’s such thing as loving someone so much that you end up hurting them by the way you raise them, by protecting them from too much… you find out he is this really smart, manipulative guy — but then you find out he’s just this scared little kid, who’s scared of losing the only person that he really cares about and that cares about him. So…
I did sympathize with him, but I don’t know if I liked him.
MTV: I didn’t like him.
JH: He’s very manipulative. Yeah, he’s sad. It’s heartbreaking.
MTV: It’s hard to know what’s real and what he’s devised to control the situation. There’s a point in the movie where he moves out of his mom’s house. It felt like when you’re a kid and you run away – but actually you pack a bag and hide under the porch until you hear your mom crying, and then you go back in. Did Cyrus really get an apartment?
JH: Well, that’s what’s funny, we shot the stuff of him moving into this other place. It actually made people feel too bad for Cyrus, because it was depressing, he didn’t have any social skills and kind of had panic attacks, and it just made the audience feel too sad for him and you wanted at this point, for John to be more equal. And then you kind of dislike John for being so mean to this guy who really was going through it, but its better left ambiguous, whether he’s faking it or not.
In my head I was like, why don’t we show that stuff? Show where he goes and it’s actually a lot better for people to go like, “Oh, I’m not sure what happens to him?” Ya know?
MTV: So you’re in an elite club right now, among people with two huge movies in the theater at the same time. Like Pierce Brosnan recently.
JH: Wow.
MTV: …and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, also.
JH: Yes.
MTV: Would you say that you’re the Christopher Mintz-Plasse of your generation?
JH: Christopher Mintz-Plasse of my generation? That question, could not make less sense. (laughing)
MTV: I know.
JH: That’s the most non-sensical question I have ever heard. I’m not judging you, I’m just saying that’s a… that’s a-- I love Chris, he’s a great guy.
MTV: You’ve been asked much stranger than that, I’ve seen it.
JH: Yeah, maybe. I…
MTV: People like to f--k with you in interviews.
JH: I don’t know what it is, I usually… look you know, my job is so awesome, I really appreciate it and would talk to anyone about anything in order to keep my job. I think people have no barometer as to what they say to me, or you know, have no sort of filter and it's interesting to me because I’m a pretty genuine person and if you say something weird or crazy to me, I’m going to react like it’s weird or crazy, I’m not going to throw it back to you weird or crazy, I’m going to be like, you’re silly, you know what I mean?
MTV: Yes.
JH: I definitely love joking around and stuff but I’m a pretty genuine person, you know? (laughing) So it’s kind of difficult sometimes to react, you don’t know how to react….
MTV: I think it’s because you can give it back.
JH: When I’m in movies, like yeah, I’m playing a character, if I’m in a comedy especially, I’m usually playing like a funny character….
MTV: But it’s a job.
JH: I’m not like that in real life. I prefer to have a normal conversation, but I guess, I realize, I’m at work right now. I’m not just sitting, shooting the s--t.
MTV: That is true, although a good interview could be shooting the s--t.
JH: It should be. We should just go to Ann Taylor and call it a day.
MTV: Is that a problem you have in your real life – not with fans or press, but actual people you meet at parties?
JH: I’m sure people judge me, without know me, of course. If you have a public job people will judge you without knowing you. But my friends and family, that’s who I hang with the most. I have a big group of like 15, 20 friends that I have known forever. Everyone else I could care less what they think of me.
MTV: Russell Brand can’t be as high-energy as he appears – what’s the guy like in his down-time?
JH: You know what’s funny, he is so obviously eccentric and hilarious and talented and upbeat and everything. But if you were like that all the time, it would be impossible to hang out with somebody like that.
MTV: I know people like that. They’re intolerable.
JH: When we’re traveling or hanging out or just sitting, it’s very genuine and he’s a good guy and he can just turn it off and have a good conversation with you. And I appreciate that side of him a lot.
MTV: One final question… Katy Perry and Zooey Deschanel – can you confirm that they are not the same person?
JH: (laughing) I know them both and they are very different people. They literally cannot have more different personalities from one another. (laughing)
Read the entire interview on MTV.com.