The scene-stealer wants to be more than just a smartass. He wants to be the King of Pop...Culture.

Story by Justin Monroe; Photography by Chris McPherson; Styling by Kelly McCabe

The Internet had a shit fit about you doing 21 Jump Street because fans take the show so seriously. Are you surprised they don’t get that the show was inherently funny?

Jonah Hill: Yeah, if you look at the opening episode of 21 Jump Street, you see a man looking at a picture of a cop holding a little boy’s hand, and you hear a crazy saxophone solo, and you pan up and it’s Johnny Depp looking at the picture playing the crazy saxophone solo. [Laughs.] We’re not even spoofing the movie. It’s not strictly comedic, either. We’re doing a full-on action movie, blowing shit up.

How do you take Internet criticism?

Jonah Hill: Here’s the thing: The Internet talks shit about everything, but I actually have a big chip on my shoulder about Perez Hilton and all these people because, according to them, I’m the ugliest, worst human being in the entire universe and I should crawl under a rock and blow my brains out. You would think I murdered and raped people for a living. I’m only trying to make people laugh; I’m doing what I love and not hurting people. I’m not even a douche! If I was in a Bentley, drinking a bottle of champagne with 10 models at a nightclub, I could understand, but I’m at home watching fucking Adult Swim. I have a girlfriend; I stay at home with my friends; I’m close with my family. I don’t think I’m threatening anybody.

In the paparazzi footage we’ve seen, you don’t seem comfortable with that attention, either.

Jonah Hill: Seth [Rogen] and Michael [Cera] and I talk about how funny is it, because none of us is doing anything. What is interesting about my life besides the fact that I make movies?

What would it take to get you to pull a Sean Penn on paparazzi or a Perez Hilton?

Jonah Hill: I don’t even wanna say anything because then they’ll just say it to get me to punch somebody. But look, I’m lucky. I’m not complaining. These people don’t wait outside my house, ’cause they know I’m not doing any shit that’s exciting.

It’d probably be a lot worse had you done Transformers 2. Why did you turn that down?

Jonah Hill: People [online] say negative things like I asked for too much money or I didn’t like the script. That’s not true at all. I love Michael Bay, but it just wasn’t right. I wouldn’t have been able to do Funny People if I’d done it. I have other things that I want to do; I hadn’t made a movie that I’d written yet, and that’s where my focus is. I haven’t proven myself enough yet.

So you want to be a straight-up filmmaker?

Jonah Hill: I started out wanting to be a writer and director. When I started acting, I looked at the people that I really loved, like [Adam] Sandler and Will Ferrell and [Ben] Stiller, who were doing the great comedies. I noticed that they all wrote and produced the movies that they were in. It’s their voices. All the great ones have their own voice—not that I’m in that category with the guys I worship like Sacha [Baron Cohen]. When I started working with Judd [Apatow], he asked me what ideas I had that I would want to do in movies and really pushed me to start writing and taught me his process. When you’re a writer, producer and actor, then you can create the movies you’d want to see.

You’re moving towards that kind of career control, but as an actor, have you ever been pressured to lose or maintain your weight because getting roles might depend on it?

Jonah Hill: Nah. I don’t buy any of that shit. Seth is all skinny now and he’s still hilarious. [My weight] doesn’t define me in any way. It’s not something I even talk about really ’cause it’s not important to me. I am what I am. That’s all I have to say about it. Home // CELEBRITIES // COVER STORY // Jonah Hill