Instagram DMs with Jonah Hill

21 September 2021

Ahead of his next drop with adidas, we catch up with creative multi-hyphenate and revered streetwear legend, Jonah Hill, to talk Samba, giving back to the cultures that raised you, and the surreal feeling of life as a meme.

Hey Jonah, how's it going?

What's up!

Not much man

Can't lie, this is a bit surreal

It's surreal for you!?

It's surreal for me to be doing an interview about my first collection

We're stoked for it

Thanks for taking the time!

I'm stoked, too - thank you for taking the time!

Where are you right now?

At home in California

Where are you?

In London

Nice to meet you!

Likewise

Hahaha

My favourite Leo meme is the one from Django Unchained where he's laughing

That might be his sickest performance to date but hard to say

Very hard to say

Too many great films

Boy can act

Someone tell the Oscars haha

We're about to go do another film together, gonna be fun to get back to work

Excited to see - has it been weird this year not being able to do as much? I guess big Hollywood productions have been pretty much shut down?

I think this year has been weird in so many ways for everyone. Hollywood shit being the least important

But I think there's always good to come from bad and lessons to be learned, so I'm trying to see the lessons

Are you guys locked down over there?

Yeah keeping it quarantined over here, but I get to surf so that's ill

But yeah I'm grateful to have a job to go do soon

And definitely hyped this adidas stuff is coming out

Us too - let's talk Samba

I'll always talk Samba

That's my favourite shoe of all time

How have you found the experience of collaborating with The Three Stripes this time around?

The Samba and the clothes for this drop are my first real drop

They had their 50th anniversary for Superstar which was so cool to do, but this is the ground up where I chose what the shoes and all the pieces would be

I think it reflects my personal aesthetic. I'm grateful adidas let me have a platform to put it out on and with a brand I respect so much

And that's no bullshit

It's cool to see some apparel in the mix this time

You directed the 'Change is a Team Sport' campaign for the Superstar anniversary when your iteration of the shoe came out earlier this year:

What was it like working with such a diverse cast of talent?

It was so cool

Every member of the cast was so talented and unique and interesting. I love working with adidas for a lot of reasons, but mainly because they really choose their talent from all across the board

And they were all so down to get creative

It's always cool to see so many people from different backgrounds and industries brought together

Pharrell, Blondey, Blackpink - I bet the wrap party was killer haha

They were all amazing and it was cool to bring my filmmaking crew into that environment and vice versa. Everyone got to have a cool experience

You're a big adidas fan - what made them feel like the right fit for turning your hand to the sneaker/streetwear space versus some of the other big brands?

I am genuinely an adidas fan, but they made the decision for me. I was about to start my own company and they approached me to take that off the table for a couple years and I said yes

It's been this incredible thing that happened where people started giving love for my style and everyone started sending me shit to get photographed in and finally I was excited to use my own creativity to create my own stuff

And then to get to do it for the first time on such a big scale while learning from their incredible team was too big of a gift to not pursue

It's been rad, I'm lucky

It's always interesting to hear how these things manifest behind the scenes.

So we'll maybe see a Jonah H brand in days to come?

It's definitely something I'm passionate about and would be great to have the ethics and ideas and love I have in the filmmaking process for a community of people to vibe with in a style sense

I think being a nice person and nice style and aesthetics aren't mutually exclusive. That's how I'm approaching film and fashion - with those ethics

That's a cool outlook, I like that a lot

Thanks!

I'm enjoying it haha

They say clothes are the skin you choose so I think having an ethical and friendly approach is something people appreciate

It's nice to wear shit you can feel good about

Yeah I think Noah does that really well

When I was coming up all the cool places were dicks when you walked into the store. Being cool meant not caring and being over everything and that fucked up my perception for a while in fashion, skating, movies, whatever...

When I met Lev and the Palace guys and they were so nice and cool, it was a big turning point for me personally

For sure, I think a lot of people have had similar experiences. It seems like things are moving in a much more inclusive direction in the streetwear space now which is good to see

Let's talk Jonah Hill the style god. Your streetwear is lauded on the blogs, what streetwear brands have you been fw lately?

Honestly since I got my clothes a couple weeks ago from adidas, I've been rocking those a lot lol

But I'll wear the puffer and the work pants and then my t-shirt I'll still show some love to my friends who I think are talented

I surf and I think surf is a lane that is going to have a lot of great clothing artists emerge similar to skating. Surf has been stuck in an aesthetic that's getting broken apart in a cool way

My favourite brands right now are Surf Crime, 88, Token Token Token, Gnarhunters

This is my new surfboard I set up the other day

I've been big into Noon Goons the past while

Yeah that stuff is dope

I like Wacko Maria and 45 RPM a lot too

There's a London streetwear brand called Assid - they do cool graphics. Feels like old school streetwear and the lookbooks are always sick haha

I'll have to check them out

Yeah I reckon you'll like them

Any recent fit pics?

My homie Kyle is the ill yoga teacher and sher made these shirts which I think turned out dope

Give Kyle Miller Yoga a shout out!

My sister took this of me and my nephews on a walk yesterday and we all had our adidas x Jonah Hill shit on haha

I didn't realise Beanie Feldstein was your sister until recently

Booksmart - what a film!

My other sister Dana took the photo, but yeah Bean is my sister. She's the coolest person on the planet

I look up to her and she's ten years younger than me

She's so funny

She's brilliant and a good person which is the most important

Family parties must be a lot of fun

They are - my whole family is very funny and warm and inviting. Life is hard and families are hard and we are a close bunch through thick and thin. You just gotta laugh man

It's all so absurd

I need some good music, you got anything?

Man, me and the team have been rinsing the new SALEM album

One of the other editors described it as the soundscape to 2020 which is pretty apt haha

Hectic, but I'm into it.

What have you been listening to?

The colours in the collection are killer - the green Samba is my favourite

Do you have a preference?

Green is my favourite color, especially that British racing green so I'm partial

But the burgundy is pretty dope

I think I was so specific with what I wanted. The design team was a blast. They got the deep rich color aspect and the monochromatic style of it, with really tiny pops here and there

I really like monochromatic, especially in deep rich colors

They'd be excited to work with someone who's got a genuine passion for the product and a vision for it. It makes all the difference when it's something authentic versus just another endorsement type thing...

I mean I can't speak for them but that's what they told me haha

I approach anything creative with openness and a deep appreciation that my job is to be creative. The design team at adidas was filled with so many talented people, I just brought my specific point of view and tried to shine love on the people I worked with

Make sure they know they're safe and free and appreciated

It was a great collaboration

That's something that seems as though it's always been important to you, right? Being a big advocate for teamwork and respect and using your platform for change, both in the movie industry and the world at large

Why has that always been important to you?

It wasn't always something that mattered to me

Honestly. when I was young I was so driven and self-focussed and career-focussed I didn't realise I wasn't giving to anyone. I looked around at 30 and hit the brakes to make Mid90s and become the filmmaker and artist I always said I would be

Once I did that, I realized I gotta be helping other people do that too

It aint all about me lol

Now I know you've got to give it away to keep it and I look around now and feel good because I want other people to get to share their stories, whether that's filmmakers or my class with the adidas SEED programme

And I'm not saying this to be like 'look at me,' helping makes you feel good and success without that doesn't feel good to me. I was always pegged as different and whenever I try something that isn't in my box, people doubt it. So I like the feeling of being told to stay in my lane and then not. If you told someone 15 years ago that guy in Superbad will be a fashion designer you'd laugh

But I believe in believing in yourself, so I try to shine that belief on the next group younger than me

You've definitely not stuck to the box people put you in and proved a lot of people wrong which is something I think everyone loves to see

Thanks man - I hope people can use my moves to break out of whatever boxes they want to break out of

Time for a big question:

What are you more proud of, your Oscar nomination or replacing Samuel L Jackson as the actor who has sworn the most on film?

While I appreciate them both, my pride or self esteem doesn't come from the results they come from the process. The process and being a good dude is the reward

That being said, ever being mentioned in the same sentence as Samuel L Jackson is fucking badass

Hahaha yeah pretty fucking cool

His performance in Jackie Brown is the illest

I love that Wolf of Wall Street alone put you and Leo above him on the swearing front

Hahaha - that movie was the best experience

Leo: did you know I'm the actor who has sworn the second most on film ever?

Hahahahahaha

Leo is the best. Not just the best actor, but truly a great person and friend. Guy has always been there for me

The video where he runs up to you pretending to be a paparazzi is pure gold

Classic

He scared the shit out of me

You can tell haha

He's funny as hell.

And genuinely cares about fucked up shit in the world. He doesn't have to do all he does and he chooses to. That's why I admire him most

We get to play rivals in this next film I was telling you about, so that will be fun to go at each other

Really?

Yeah I'm hyped

You two are definitely some of the most memeable actors of the moment

If the Django one is your favourite Leo meme, what's your favourite Jonah meme?

Hahaha - the only one that accurately represents my personal sense of humor is the one where Emma Stone says she wants to dance with me at the Oscars and I'm like: