Jay Baruchel doesn’t mind admitting Jonah Hill is talented — or personally disliking him.
Baruchel’s disdain seemingly came to a head while filming “This is the End.” The 2013 disaster comedy famously cast celebrities like Seth Rogen, James Franco and Emma Watson as exaggerated versions of themselves who try to survive the apocalypse.
Baruchel tries desperately in the film to convince the group, who sincerely believe Hill is a good person, that he’s pulled the wool over their eyes and “can’t stand” him. Rogen replies that Hill is “the nicest guy in the world” and promises Baruchel “he likes you so much.”
The comedy eventually unfolds to prove Baruchel right, as Hill prays that Baruchel not be spared from God’s wrath, throws a knife into his leg and unscrupulously pushes him into a sinkhole. Ultimately, this piece of $126 million-grossing art appeared to imitate real life.
“There is one, I guess,” Baruchel told Larry King in 2017 when asked about his relationship with Hill. “I know the man. I wouldn’t say that [I don’t like him] … It was contentious once upon a time, but I think now we’re sort of each the devil the other one knows.”
In a recent episode of “The Last Laugh” podcast, however, Baruchel delved deeper into their contentious relationship and stated firmly: “I was … real crabby throughout that whole movie … Jonah and I don’t get along super well, or at least didn’t back then.”
When told the dynamic “comes through on screen,” the Canadian actor wasn’t surprised: “Yeah, no fucking shit, it does! And also, it was this weird thing of mining personal shit.”
“But not for catharsis, just for comedy,” Baruchel continued. “In the most commoditized, capitalist way of, like, we’re going to dig up real personal shit, but nobody’s going to go home feeling better about it. We’re just going to turn it into a fucking product.”
Left: Gerald Matzka/Getty Images; Right: Manuel Romano/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Hill was recently slammed by his ex-girlfriend Sarah Brady for alleged “emotional abuse” and accused of “predatory behavior” by “Zoey 101” actor Alexa Nikolas. Hill denied the latter claim through his attorney Wednesday as a “complete fabrication.”
Baruchel added he couldn’t confide in Rogen, who directed the film, because they were both “raised in the great misogynistic tradition of not talking about shit.” However, he had told Insider mere weeks earlier that “there is love there” and wouldn’t reject a reunion.
Baruchel said on the podcast that acting opposite Hill and receiving his relentless compliments onscreen “was exhausting” and “sucked,” however. He ironically believed the film’s “wanky inside baseball bullshit” wouldn’t work for audiences — until he saw it himself.
“I was like, ‘Holy fuck, this is funny as fuck. And Jonah is very good in it,’” said Baruchel. “That’s when I knew it was a good movie; when I was laughing at Jonah’s shit that I never once found funny on set. And then, in the movie, I actually found myself laughing.”