Jonah Hill gives gun runner role a shot in War Dogs

Jonah Hill (left) alongside Miles Teller (Allstar/WARNER BROS)

HOW do two 20-something young men land themselves a $300-million Pentagon contract?

That was the question on many people’s lips when David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli found themselves acting as gun runners for the US Government, and it’s the subject of a new film starring Jonah Hill.

The action — which is accompanied by a good dose of comedy — centres around how two former childhood friends from Miami concoct a plan to arm the US allies in Afghanistan and make themselves a tidy profit in the process.

The film’s producer Todd Phillips — who was also behind the hit series of Hangover films — was initially disappointed when Jonah declined his offer of a starring role.

“A lot of times when you do a movie, it’s about finding one person to build the movie around, and for me, it was just always Jonah,” Todd says.

Following a tweak to the script, Jonah came on board and says he loved playing the part.

“I really gravitate towards exploring people who operate outside of the moral boundaries of society,” he reveals.

Prior to filming, Jonah got some advice from Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio on how to portray a real person.

“He said: ‘Always meet them if you can, take what you want and leave what you don’t,’” says Jonah.

“It’s great if you can meet them. You just have to do a lot of editing of who they actually are.”

In this case, Diveroli was in prison and wanted nothing to do with the project.

So how did Packouz and Diveroli find themselves the least-likely gun runners in the history of time?

Getting themselves a contract with the Pentagon seemed unlikely, but the pair were hired when they undercut the nearest competitors by quite some way — $53 million, in fact!

What would follow would, at times, be terrifying and life-threatening, and the film didn’t have to exaggerate anything to make the scenes more dramatic.

Although Jonah is best known as a comedy actor, he aspires to be as versatile as possible, saying: “What I like about this movie a lot is that it blends both drama and comedy.

“The actors I look up to and respect a lot are the ones that can do both very well.

“This movie has big laughs, but it’s not like Todd’s other films. It’s a crime film that is very funny.”

David Packouz was working as a masseuse when Diveroli offered to let him in on his arms business to make “serious money”.

With a Government raid eventually bringing their deception to light, David decided to give himself up, while Efraim continued to sell Chinese weapons, which the Government saw as a breach of their contract.

The pair were convicted of conspiracy in 2011, with Efraim sentenced to a four-year prison sentence, and David receiving seven months’ house arrest.

Definitely a departure from Todd’s previous outings.

“Yeah, Todd nailed this,” Jonah confirms. “I will say when I’m in a bad movie! And I’m really, really proud of this one.”

War Dogs is in cinemas now.

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