The comic duo of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill began with an intentionally bad idea.
Hill called up Tatum: “So I have this probably terrible idea, but I want to see if you’re interested,” he said. Adapting the 1980s TV show 21 Jump Street was the pitch, and Tatum couldn’t resist Hill’s anti-sell.
The movie, a send-up of TV show adaptations while at the same time being one, was an R-rated box office hit that earned $200 million (Dh734 million) worldwide. Now, Hill and Tatum are back with 22 Jump Street, directed (like the first) by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the maestros of turning shallow conceits (The Lego Movie) into self-reflexive satire.
In 22 Jump Street, which opened in US theatres last Friday, but has been put on hold in the UAE, according to distributors Empire International, they are odd-couple roommates and best buddies trying to discover who is supplying college students with a powerful new drug called WHYPHY.
“I think we always thought we had a bit of handcuffs on in the first movie, being in high school and obviously the underage thing, and going to college would be a little bit more wild,” said Tatum, 34, best known for White House Down and Magic Mike.
The sequel puts the actors in a role reversal from the first film, in which Tatum’s Jenko had difficulty fitting in and double Oscar nominee Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street and Moneyball) as Schmidt was the popular guy.
This time around Tatum’s hunky, dim-witted Jenko, blends in with the frat boys, becomes a football star and finds a kindred spirit in quarterback Zook, played by Wyatt Russell (Cowboys & Aliens).
“I am the first person in my family to pretend to go to college,” says an emotional Jenko.
The nerdy, needy Schmidt is left on the sidelines so he seeks solace with the artsy crowd and in the arms of student Maya, played by Amber Stevens (The Amazing Spider-Man).
Ice Cube is back as the duo’s boss, Captain Dickson, and Jillian Bell, as Maya’s dour roommate, never lets Schmidt forget he looks too old to be in college.
It is packed with jokes, witty humour and action, but at its heart the film is about Jenko and Schmidt’s relationship. Their divergent paths force the duo to question whether they should take a break, “investigate other people” and sow their “cop oats.” The stars and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the duo behind the hit The Lego Movie, were aware of the pitfalls of making a sequel and tackled the issue in the film.
“We were wrestling so hard with the idea of making a sequel and how they are always worse, that we were like we should just call that out. We should just put that out there,” said Hill.
“And we did and people really responded to it and it allowed us to focus on making a cool movie.” The spoof strategy seems to have worked. 22 Jump Street is expected to make $55 million in its opening weekend, nearly $20 million more than the original, and it has pleased critics.
The trade journal Variety said the film “sticks snugly to the prior film’s winning formula, mining the resultant doublings and repetitions for maximum absurdist hilarity.”
In a recent interview, Hill and Tatum reflected on their partnership in parody and what Hill calls “the most difficult week of my life.”
Did you know early on how good your chemistry together was?
Hill: I think we got lucky. We knew we would get along, but also the way we interact is luckily funny. It makes us laugh. I think it makes other people enjoy watching us hang out. When we’re on set and we’re hanging out and laughing, I can see people smiling.
Tatum: I definitely went into this, more than most films, with zero, zero ego. I was very insecure about trying to go do a comedy. I was just sort of like: “Tell me what to do.”
You guys might seem quite different, but you overlap in many ways. You have director Bennett Miller in common (Hill received his first Oscar nomination for Miller’s Moneyball, while Tatum stars in the upcoming Foxcatcher), and you both have terrible things done to you in This Is the End.
Tatum: It was like 2 in the morning — they must have still been shooting — and I hear my email go off. I pick up my phone for whatever reason. I never do this. I don’t email with Seth [Rogen], but it’s Seth and he’s like, “Don’t be mad at me. We’re sitting here and we have a crazy idea for a cameo for you that involves you, Danny McBride, a retractable dog leash and a Mexican wrestling mask.” And I was like, “I’m in.”
In the time you’ve been making the Jump Street movies, your careers have both exploded.
Tatum: When [Hill] got nominated [for The Wolf of Wall Street], it was so insanely ... I felt like I got nominated. I’m not even kidding. It was one of those, like, “YES!”
Hill: I had a very similar experience with Cannes. I was in my bed at home and I got an email with the first Foxcatcher review from Cannes. It was like 6 or 7am in Los Angeles. And I knew what that meant for the road they’re about to go on. I was screaming and I called [Tatum] and Bennett. Neither of them picked up. They screened my calls.
Following the video that showed Hill calling a paparazzo a gay slur, what has this week been like?
Hill: It’s been the most difficult weeks of my life, without any question. I’ll say this: It’s been the most painful week of my life. I’m someone who beats themselves up for their mistakes in life. I don’t want to keep giving a watered down apology because what I said on Jimmy Fallon was from my heart and what I wanted to get out there. But there is a silver lining to it if people who are young and fans of mine hear me say, “Use me as an example of what not to do.”
Tatum: Knowing him, it’s even frustrating. ... He’s such a thoughtful person. Even when we’re on set and improving and it starts skirting around anything racist or bigoted, he’s like, “I’m going to stop this before we go into any offensive territory.”
How did the end credits sequence of fake Jump Street sequels come about?
Hill: We were screening the movie and it was testing really well and the audience was responding really well to it. We were sitting around going, “The movie plays great. I wish there was one more thing to send people off with a great feeling.” One last jab at ourselves, too. One more: “We suck.”
