I was really advanced professionally but really behind personally, all my 20s, I wasn't really looking inward. I was just running toward success. Or trying to find success. And when I was 30, I was like, I've always wanted to be a director, but if I don't get off this train now and write ‘Mid90s’ [his 2018 comedy] I'm not going to do it. And I hit pause. I took three or four years to reshape things. I was like, ‘I could just do this for 10 more years and I'm not going to evolve as a person.'.

Jonah Hill

Germany's amongst my top three places in the world I'd like to li... by Jonah Hill

Germany's amongst my top three places in the world I'd like to live.

germany three world

I don't like to say mean things about people's hard work. by Jonah Hill

I don't like to say mean things about people's hard work.

hard-work mean people

I assume everything I do in life is gonna be a failure, and then if it turns up roses, then I'm psyched.

assuming life-is rose

I want to meet the man who saw a turtle and said, "People will LO... by Jonah Hill

I want to meet the man who saw a turtle and said, "People will LOVE the ninja version of that."

turtles men people

If you're trying to make someone happy, you gotta try and make th... by Jonah Hill

If you're trying to make someone happy, you gotta try and make them happy.

make-someone-happy ifs trying

New Orleans is like the bad-kid island in 'Pinocchio.' by Jonah Hill

New Orleans is like the bad-kid island in 'Pinocchio.'

new-orleans islands kids

I started writing and acting in these little plays and then I was discovered by Dustin Hoffman. He got me my first audition for a film he was in, called 'I Heart Huckabees.'

play heart writing

I like playing characters that, you know, a couple could go see the movie and one person could love him and one person could hate him.

couple hate character

I mean, being shot in slow motion doing cocaine by Martin Scorsese is, like, maybe every actor's dream. Nothing will compare to it. Except maybe having kids.

dream mean kids

I mean, I find things that happened in real life to be the funniest - things that you observe instead of crazy abstract things, you know.

crazy real mean

When you go out to make something, you want it to be great. You need to put a bubble around that, so no one can get into the force field and change what you're setting out to make. That's all us being producers is doing, is allowing our power to protect the integrity of what you're doing.

force-fields integrity needs

I play a lot of games on my iPhone. There is a game called Rat on a Scooter that I will promote as much as possible because it has brought me so much joy.

iphone games play

I'm a lifelong Simpsons fanatic and I wanted to create my own ani... by Jonah Hill

I'm a lifelong Simpsons fanatic and I wanted to create my own animated show, one day.

lifelong animated one-day

I've never had issues with popularity. I was always a popular guy... I've always had friends and loved ones and everything, so it wasn't like, "Oh man, I gotta fill some void that was left by high school." I had a great high-school experience.

issues men school

It's harder to be funny if you're handsome than if you're very normal-looking. It's just more relatable. You're the underdog. I mean it's funny to see people struggle, and you don't buy that Brad Pitt is struggling, you know that guy could be the most skill-less guy in the world, but if you look like that you will be fine for the rest of your life.

skills struggle mean

If I ever over hear people saying I give off an 'Ed Harris type of sexy vibe.' I'll be pretty psyched.

sexy giving people

I run and do a lot of push-ups and eat healthy. by Jonah Hill

I run and do a lot of push-ups and eat healthy.

push-ups healthy running

Being in TV is insane. The notes you get sometimes, I just don't... by Jonah Hill

Being in TV is insane. The notes you get sometimes, I just don't understand them.

tvs insane sometimes

Albert Brooks is definitely one of my biggest influences, for sur... by Jonah Hill

Albert Brooks is definitely one of my biggest influences, for sure.

brooks influence

As an actor, you tell part of a story. As a writer, you get more of telling that story. But as a director, they're seeing the world through your eyes.

eye stories directors