Jonah Hill says he was drawn to 'insane' story at the heart of 'War Dogs'

NEW YORK, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Jonah Hill and Miles Teller say they leaped at the chance to play real-life, international arms dealers in director Todd Phillips' new movie War Dogs because meaty roles for millennials aren't easy to come by.

"I read the article [on which the film was based] when it came out and really liked it, and tried to get the rights to it, but Todd's company had already done so," Hill said at a recent New York press conference.

"The irony is I ended up making it when I was like 31 or 32, but at the time the article came out, I was in my mid-20s or something, and, at that time, when you're looking for stories or movies, usually the great stories are about people in their 30s and 40s, because they've lived more life and they're usually accomplishing more incredible things. But when there's an interesting story about someone that's your age, you're immediately like -- especially when you're younger -- you're like: 'Wow that's crazy! There's not very many of these.' So, I was just really attracted to how insane the story was and that the characters were people my age doing these insane things."

"Yeah," said 29-year-old Teller, who was sitting beside Hill and Phillips on the panel. "And, similarly, I think when you're looking for scripts or for characters around your own age, a lot of the time, they don't have the kind of responsibility that Jonah was talking about, that is usually seen in parts that are older for you. I think that these guys' youth kind of gave them a certain... They didn't have as much to lose. They thought it just kind of gave them this bravado and a little bit of ignorance that was needed, I think, to kind of just keep pushing them along this path. But, yeah, for me, I'd always wanted to work with Todd. He produced a film [Project X,] I worked on a couple of years before and I just really enjoy him as a filmmaker, and then you throw in Jonah and you say Bradley Cooper's going to act in it and produce it... So, for me it wasn't -- I didn't really have to juggle that too long. I was like, 'Yeah, this is something I'd absolutely love to be a part of.'"

War Dogs is to open in U.S. theaters Friday.