Jonah Hill believes he has been destined to become a director.
The 32-year-old Hollywood star is to start shooting ‘Mid-90s’ – which Scott Rudin is producing – next February and it will be a coming-of-age drama about the skateboarding scene in Los Angeles in the 90s.
Jonah has teased that it will be gritty tale like Larry Clark’s ‘Kids’ or Shane Meadows’ ‘This Is England’ and believes his career has been building towards him directing movies
Speaking to BANG Showbiz at a gala screening of his latest movie ‘War Dogs’ in London on Thursday night (11.08.16), he said: " ‘Mid-90s’ is my next project I wrote it and I’m going to direct too. For me it’s what I have always wanted to do. I love acting very much, but this is definitely something that I hope becomes a really big part of my life."
In his latest film, Jonah stars alongside Miles Teller as Miami-based friends Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz who, during the Iraq War, exploit a little-known government initiative that allowed small businesses to bid on US military contracts.
They then land a $300 million contract to supply weapons to the America-allied Afghan armed forces with weapons and find themselves drawn into a world filled with shady and corrupt characters.
The movie is based on a true story and has been adapted from Guy Lawson’s Rolling Stone article and subsequent book ‘Arms and the Dudes’.
Jonah admits he was drawn to the movie because the story is just so outrageous, even though it really happened.
He said: "I was just really excited about the movie. The story is just insane, it’s so unbelievable, I still can’t believe it actually happened … It’s just an unbelievable true story, it’s crazy, it’s awesome."
As part of his research Jonah got to meet David Packouz – who Miles portrays – and he was captivated by his charisma.
He explained: "I didn’t get to meet the guy I played but I got to meet David, who Miles played, and a few of the people who knew him at this time. By all accounts he was very manipulative and deceptive but by all accounts he was also extremely charismatic. I thought that was a very interesting thing to pull off."
Jonah was joined at the screening by ‘War Dogs’ director Todd Phillips and celebrity guests such as Stephanie Pratt, Michelle Heaton, Dynamo and Kimberly Wyatt.