Jonah Hill on his transition from playing comedies to dramas: "I mean, I love all different kinds of films. I've gotten to express myself a lot comedically, and I like doing that. But opportunities like this are the greatest thing in the entire world, and it's just about playing the character truthfully. There are ridiculous situations in this film that would be the same in a broad comedy."
Welsey MannJonah Hill has closed a deal to star in Arms and the Dudes, a Warner Bros. crime comedy being directed by Todd Phillips.
The casting is the first concrete attachment to the project, which had seen both Shia LaBeouf and Jesse Eisenberg flirt with it.
However, Eisenberg’s availability recently shifted (the actor is playing Lex Luthor in the studio’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and commitments to that movie, as well as potentially appearing in another DC Entertainment-based movie, Suicide Squad, took him out of the running).
LaBeouf also moved on, although his talks never progressed beyond courting.
The studio then turned to Hill. The Wolf of Wall Street actor was already well acquainted with the project, having done table reads months ago when the script, co-written by Phillips and Jason Smilovic, was still being worked on.
Dudes is based on Guy Lawson‘s Rolling Stone article, which follows two stoners from Miami Beach who ended up becoming arms dealers for the U.S. government.
Phillips is producing with Bradley Cooper and Mark Gordon. Bryan Zuriff is executive producing.
Jesse Ehrman and Jon Gonda are overseeing for the studio.
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