Jonah Hill And James Franco Teaming For True Story

Jonah Hill in Forgetting Sarah Marshall
(Image credit: Universal)

Despite the fact that both actors are part of the Judd Apatow inner circle, James Franco and Jonah Hill have never shared a scene together. In fact, the only movie that they both appear in is Knocked Up and Franco's role in that was little more than a uncredited cameo. Both are signed on to star as themselves in the directorial debuts of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg in The Apocalypse, but they will also be uniting for a real-life drama.

Both actors are now set to play the leads in True Story, a film based on the memoir by journalist Michael Finkel. Newcomer Rupert Goold is directing the project with Brad Pitt on board to produce. The story will feature Hill as Finkel, who worked as a journalist at The New York Times Magazine in 2002 when it was revealed that Christian Longo (Franco), a killer who had been on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, was captured in Mexico. Making things even stranger, Longo had been living under the identity of Finkel in order to evade capture. Finkel was then fired from the magazine for reportedly falsifying information in an investigation but sees a chance at redemption when he learns that the only journalist that Longo will talk to is Finkel. Deadline says thatTrue Story is already out to financiers and could have a deal this week.

Both Franco and Hill are actors who started in comedy and then proved themselves dramatically with Oscar-nominated performances in 127 Hours and Moneyball, respectively. Let's see if they can both pull it off again.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.