You may know Jonah Hill from the world of Judd Apatow films and “Superbad,” but if you haven’t paid attention, the comedian is already a two-time Oscar (“The Wolf Of Wall Street,” “Moneyball“) nominee for prestige directors Martin Scorsese and Bennet Miller. Hill wants to be taken seriously and has been reframing his career for quite some time now working with auteurs recently like Cary Fukunaga (“Maniac“), Gus Van Sant (“Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot“), Harmony Korine (“The Beach Bum“) and the Coen Brothers (“Hail, Caesar!“).
Hill’s perhaps gearshifted his persona and public perception even further with his directorial debut “Mid90s,” which came out last fall via A24. A quiet, thoughtful and meditative skate drama and coming of age film, “Mid90s” basically features no stars outside of supporting turns by Katherine Waterston and Lucas Hedges.
Promoting the film at the Berlin Film Festival, playing in the Panorama program, Hill said he’s trying to “challenge traditional masculinity” and his sensitive portrait of friendship, loneliness, and community does just that.
“Traditional masculinity was not to show emotion, not to show sensitivity, not to show vulnerability, because it’s ‘feminine’ or, God forbid, ‘gay’ to do so,” he told Variety. “What that does, and what we’ve seen, is that it leads to a lot of horrible behavior, and a lot of bad actions.”
Hill came of pop culture age in his 20s in the aforementioned Apatow comedies, but now 35 years of age, he’s hoping to get away from his perception as “bro comedy guy.” “I love those films,” he said. “But I also think that if you look back at those films, a lot of what they’re showing is major bro comedy, and bro masculinity.”
While he’s certainly not ruled out acting, directing seems to be Hill’s immediate focus at the moment. His next venture is directing a music video for the indie rock band Vampire Weekend.
The band’s new album Father of the Bride will be out later this year, and the group was busy filming on NYC’s Upper West Side this week with Hill captured by many on Instagram.
Some kind of deli/food theme seems to be part of the clip. “They spent time in the morning at smoked fish specialists Barney Greengrass and, later in the day, made their way to Zabar’s where they shot while the store stayed open — many shoppers were oblivious that Ezra Koenig was behind the counter.,” writes Brooklyn Vegan whose honed in on the many photos floating around on social media.
The song in question may be titled “Sunflower,” but that remains unconfirmed. This isn’t Hill’s first music video, he’s shot clips for Sara Bareilles and Danny Brown in the past.
not 2 exaggerate of anything but, Ezra Koenig in zabars … is something special pic.twitter.com/Z2xueexq7y
— Maybe: dead (@ezrakoenigdad) February 7, 2019
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