Hello SuperBroMovies readers, we hope y’all have all been enjoying our coverage of Fantastic Fest so far. Last night, I had the pleasure of being on the red carpet for Jonah Hill’s writing/directing debut mid90s, getting the opportunity to ask him a couple brief questions about the film and the film-making process.
First off, the way you’ve talked about the film has made it seem like a very emotional & personal story. What was the genesis of this project?
Jonah Hill: Well I was writing, actually, an entirely different film as my first film and it kept flashing back to these kids skating when they were twelve … I was writing a thing with Spike Jonze and we would do this thing where we would talk about the films we writing and tell each the story every day. He said “you light up when you talk about [the main characters] skating when they’re kids and you don’t really seem as interested in the later section … You should just make that movie”. So that’s where it started, and four years later here we are!
You’ve talked before about how you’re trying to avoid “nostalgia porn”, how did you go about that?
JH: Just things being overt or cheap or played for nostalgia. Y’know, there are things [about the film] that made me feel nostalgic, but are hopefully more textual, things that are about character or story [are put] first.
For aspiring film-makers looking to break into the industry, what’s your biggest piece of advice?
JH: I would say PA (Production Assistant) on a film set as much as possible, because it gives you a front row seat to the film-making process. Most people don’t realize how much you absorb by being a PA on a film set, and it’s the easiest job to get on a film set and it gives the best entry-level perspective on what it’s like to actually work on a film.
We can’t thank Mr. Hill, Fantastic Fest, or A24 enough for giving us this wonderful opportunity. mid90s hits theaters on October 19th, but keep a lookout for our review tomorrow!
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