Jonah Hill skates back into the Mid90s with first trailer for directorial debut

Mid90s follows a teenage skater boy in ’90s-era Los Angeles, marking the directorial debut for Jonah Hill.

Jonah Hill made us laugh uncontrollably in comedies like Knocked Up, Superbad and 21 Jump Street. He’s also shown us a more serious side, from starring alongside Brad Pitt in Moneyball to getting an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Now, the Los Angeles native is making his directorial debut with a film that is already being described as a love letter to skateboarding culture, aptly titled Mid90s.

Stevie, a young skateboarder played by Sunny Suljic, becomes obsessed with skateboarding. It’s very clear his older brother (played by Lady Bird‘s Lucas Hedges) is against this, seeing how certain new friends of his little bro may not be so innocent.

Throwback visuals like the use of a fisheye lens and gritty lighting will bring back instant flashbacks to any ’90s kid. With Kids and This Is England being Hill’s influence on the project, this could thankfully be a coming-of-age film that doesn’t bring up tired stereotypes. Back in 2016 when he was set to start filming, Hill said of Mid90s:

"It’s sort of like a coming-of-age drama — it’s the most boring elevator pitch in the world, but it takes place in a skateboarding scene in the mid-90s in L.A… Skateboarding’s always been put on screen as a joke or an 80s cowabunga kind of trope, and it’s more in the tone of Kids or This Is England. Those are kind of the movies that I’m influenced by the most."

With those films being Hill’s inspiration, it isn’t surprising that the trailer feels pretty heavy, even for a story about L.A. skater boys. The one humorous line in the trailer comes from a cop comparing one of the long-haired skaters to Sheryl Crow.

Watch the trailer for Mid90s here:

Mid90s will head to theaters this fall on October 19.

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