Jonah Hill opens up about taking break from Hollywood after early success post 'Superbad'

In a recent interview with GQ magazine, Jonah Hill reflected on his life and his work in the Hollywood industry. He became successful ‘overnight’ with his film Superbad in 2007 when he was in his early 20s. He went on to explain how his early success led to him hitting ‘pause’. 

Jonah Hill speaks to GQ magazine

The GQ interview featured Hill and director Adam McKay. The two spoke about Hill’s rise to fame and how his life was back then. He said, “It was very overnight for me. Michael Cera and I talk about it all the time. We just had this really rare experience: One day life was one way, and then one day life was a different way.”

The actor also mentioned he believes he had ‘too much power’ after his success at a young age. According to ANI, he said, “Right after Superbad, I took a writing job on Brüno [with Sacha Baron Cohen]. I was 23, and they asked me to host SNL for the first time. And I didn’t want to leave the writers room. I was like, ‘Guys, I don’t know what to do.’ It was my first job working for Sacha. And Sacha was like, ‘Dude, you should go host SNL.’ To me, having a writing job for Sacha Baron Cohen was as rad as hosting SNL. I was a kid. I had probably too much power for a young person, and too much autonomy, and not enough life skills.”

Jonah Hill also mentioned that he has dropped out of college as he thought it was a form of ‘idling’ for someone like him. But he admitted he has rethought his choices now that he is in his 30s. He said, “I dropped out of college, and I used to not get why people would go to college. Because if you’re ambitious, why would you spend four years just idling? And then I didn’t realize until I turned 30 that what those four years gave all my friends was this wobbling period of how to be a person. I was really advanced professionally but really behind personally. All my 20s, I wasn’t really looking inward. I was just running toward success. Or trying to find success.”

He also added, “When I was 30, I was like, I’ve always wanted to be a director, but if I don’t get off this train now and write Mid90s, I’m not going to do it. And I hit pause. I took three or four years to reshape things. I was like, I could just do this for 10 more years and I’m not going to evolve as a person.”

The actor still considers himself a workaholic but states that he has managed to find the right balance between work and his personal life. Speaking about the balance, he said, “I still write and direct and get all my projects in order and stuff. But then I also surf every day. I make myself surf every day. I don't know if dropping out is kind of the accurate word, but I kind of dropped out a little bit. I love my creativity and my work. But I definitely live a very quiet lifestyle, where I surf, hang out with my dog, and hang out with my nephews. Just keep it mellow.”

With input from ANI

Picture Credits: AP