Jonah Hill Cancels Press for 'War Dogs' in France After Being Mocked in Awkward TV Interview
Miles Teller and Jonah Hill in ‘War Dogs’ (Warner Bros.)
By Rhonda Richford, The Hollywood Reporter
Oscar-nominee Jonah Hill has canceled French press for his new film War Dogs after being mocked on CanalPlus’ program Le Grand Journal.
The pay TV channel’s flagship program invited Hill and co-star Miles Teller as guests to promote the film before Hill was mocked by Ornella Fleury, the show’s weather reporter “Miss Meteo.”
Fleury, speaking in French with Hill getting her commentary translated via an ear piece, started by referencing the scene in This Is the End where Hill has a sexual encounter with a monster. “When I saw you get sodomized by a three-meter-tall demon in This Is the End, I told myself, ‘Now that’s the man of my dreams’!“
“I hear you get sodomized pretty often,” Hill shot back. Undeterred, Fleury continued to describe her “sexual fantasy,” saying: “We would meet up in a hotel room at night. We would chat, you’d make me laugh. Then all of a sudden, you’d bring your friends (Leonardo) DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, and then you’d go away.”
Hill ended the conversation by saying: “I’m glad I came on this show to get ridiculed by your local weather girl.” The star was said to be “humiliated" and canceled the rest of his press events in France to promote War Dogs.
Fleury issued a formal apology, saying that she felt like she knew Hill from seeing him on film for over a decade. “I really had the impression that I knew you,” she said. “I thought I was just messing around with a friend, but the reality is that we are not friends.”
She joked that he has two Oscar nominations and has worked with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, while she has only a kitchen sponge commercial on her resume.
It’s the second public gaffe for “Miss Meteo” Fleury since the evening show debuted its new lineup Sept. 5. On the opening night episode, Fleury addressed co-host Brigitte Boreale as “Lady-Gentleman” and joked that she wanted to have a threesome with the trans writer.
The Association of LGBT Journalists condemned the joke and said it would file a complaint with the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) television authority. “These remarks are not funny, they are injurious to Brigitte Boreale and for all trans people,” it said in a statement.
The position of “Miss Meteo” was brought back following the departure of former host Maitena Biraben, who had attempted to take the flagship chat show in a more serious direction. That proved disastrous for the network, with ratings falling to below a 600,000 nightly average – less than half the average 1.1 million viewers of previous host Antoine de Caunes.
Aside from controversy, the new team failed to spark interest from the audience, with numbers hovering even below Biraben’s. In its first week, the show averaged only 260,000 viewers, or a 1.3 percent share. The episode featuring Hill had just 187,000 viewers, or a 1.1 percent share.
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Watch a video of the interview:
