If you’ve been on the entertainment or therapy side of TikTok lately, or just like to keep updated with celeb news, you’ve probably heard of the long list of rules Jonah Hill had for his now ex-girlfriend, surfer Sarah Brady. Though he referred to them as “boundaries” in his leaked texts, many consider them a list of abusive demands. They range from potentially understandable (like not wanting her to post “sexual” pictures) to downright outlandish (like not wanting her to surf with men, even though that’s her job.)
Though there are of course pockets of the internet–you know the ones–that think it’s perfectly acceptable for Jonah Hill to dictate the bodies and careers of the women he’s dating, most can agree, this is whack. But is this new behavior from the actor, or have there been hints all along that he’s not a great guy? Let me direct you to the 2013 horror comedy, This Is The End.
In This Is The End, written and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, James Franco is hosting a star-studded Hollywood party when the Earth opens up and the end-of-days apocalypse begins. One of the biggest selling points for the plot of the film was that all the celebs were playing themselves. We had a coked-out Michael Cera smacking Rihanna’s ass. We had Kevin Hart kicking Aziz Ansari down the hole. And after the initial disaster, we’re left with James Franco, Seth Rogen, Craig Robinson, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, and Danny McBride holed-up in Franco’s home, ready to wait out whatever comes next.
When you write a movie where celebrities play themselves, they’re never really playing themselves. Instead, it could go one of three ways:
- They’re playing a heightened version of what the general public expects of them.
- They’re playing a heightened version of what they’re really like.
- They’re playing the exact opposite of what you’d expect.
Of course with good writing–which this has, as evidenced by the 83% Rotten Tomato rating and my own insistence that it’s a nearly perfect movie–each of the main celeb cast fit somewhere in a range of those three choices, but in a real-feeling, believable sort of way.
Then there’s Jonah.
While the rest of the cast still feel human and real, Jonah’s character comes off more as a caricature, a cartoon version of a too-nice guy who’s always caring about how everyone’s feeling. The end of the spectrum from good to bad is so heavily weighted toward good, that it feels more like when you call a bald guy “Curly.” It feels like the movie is saying that irl Jonah isn’t such a good guy.
Now, I can already hear some of the comments. “This movie is fiction, Trisha. It’s a joke.” And yeah, sure, I can agree to an extent. But may I direct you to a video where Seth Rogen himself admits that Jonah Hill is difficult to work with?
In 2019, Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron were on a publicity circuit advertising their new movie, Long Shot. (Which I highly recommend, by the way.) In a video for First We Feast, Charlize and Seth played a game of Hot Ones Truth or Dab. Host Sean Evans asked them spicy questions and if they couldn’t answer, they had to eat even spicier wings. At around the 6:22 minute mark, Sean asks:
“Of the following actors, which one is the most difficult to work with and why?”
Before Sean can even list out the multiple choice options, Seth interrupts with a hearty “Jonah! Next,” followed by his trademark laugh. The game moves on from there, but wouldn’t we all love to hear Seth’s reasoning for answering with Jonah Hill?
Of course, this is all speculation, as is usually the case with anything related to celebrity gossip. If you’re curious what I’m talking about, you can watch This Is The End on Netflix. At the very least, you’ll get to watch a hilarious movie with a killer cast.
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