"At that point of my life there was no part of me that ever could have imagined co-starring with Brad Pitt," said Jonah Hill, referencing his time working on Superbad. Hill, currently starring in Sony Pictures' new film, Moneyball, held a round-table discussion in which justArts was able to participate. Hill elaborated on a few points about the film, particularly his experiences working with Pitt. "We spent a lot of time with one another, which for me was awesome and for him was probably ‘whatever,'" Hill joked in a typical self-deprecating fashion.

Hill is currently doing a press tour for Moneyball, which stars Pitt as Billy Beane, real-life ex-general manager of the Oakland Athletics. The film centers on Beane's attempts to rise against the discriminatory team-selecting penchants of traditional baseball. He does this by using a process of statistical analysis to uncover hidden talents among candidates who ordinarily wouldn't stand a chance to compete on a professional team. Hill plays the computer-savvy Peter Brand, a Yale graduate, who is hired by Beane to use his expert analytical skills to help him create the world's most unlikely baseball team. The duo presses forward despite facing opposition from all sides, including Beane's disgruntled field manager, Art Howe (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), who rigidly opposes Beane's attempts to remake the game.

The movie is based on the Michael Lewis' book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, with a screenplay penned by Steve Zaillain (Schindler's List) and Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network). The screenplay cracks, sizzles and pops with electrifying dialogue in typical Sorkin fashion. Bennett Miller (Capote) directs the film. With his fluid, even-paced style, Miller manages to facilitate a dynamic arena for Hill and Pitt to play off of one another, with humorous results.

Hill burst onto the scene with 2002's Superbad and is well-known for his participation in comedic circles with the likes of Seth Rogan and Judd Apatow. But while Hill is an expert at playing brash and outrageous comic roles, the realm of drama is new territory for him. The role of Brand gives Hill the opportunity to give his most low-key performance to date. Rather than playing the character for over-the-top laughs, Hill goes for comedy of a more reserved nature. His lovable awkwardness and deadpan humor serve as excellent counterbalances to Pitt's more straight-laced and enthusiastic performance.

The relationship between Beane and Brand is a driving force behind the film, and Hill spoke about the ways he and Pitt worked on developing their characters. "We had a great time, we rehearsed quite a bit, … and we knew our characters had to really get along, so we bonded and hung out, and we talked a lot about All the President's Men," Hill commented, referencing the characters of Woodward and Bernstein. Hill says he and Pitt based the dynamics of their relationship off of those two figures. "[The point was] just understanding that this relationship between us is kind of the central relationship of the film, and to understand each other was really important."

All that time Hill spent working with Pitt resulted in quite a few laughs shared—mainly at Hill's expense. "You know, I consider myself a funny guy, but I'm not that great at pranks. They take a lot of time and effort, especially at [Brad's] level of skill. He decided that I was obsessed with the band Wham!—he decided this for me," Hill quipped. "I got to my character's office the first couple days, and there was a big Fred Wham poster above my desk."

Hill went on to discuss how Pitt inflicted increasingly shameful damage to his golf cart; first removing the wheels, putting it on cinderblocks, then turning it completely upside down. "[When this is happening], he's in there with me shooting a scene, which means he has secret prank elves that do this while we're working," Hill joked.

Pitt's pranks reached their peak when he wrapped Hill's golf cart in pink saran wrap and photoshopped a photo of Hill and George Michael, the lead singer of Wham!, together, which Pitt placed on the hood. "[It read] ‘Wham! Mobile: I'm Jonah Hill, number-one Wham fan,'" Hill laughed in recollection. "And the icing on the cake was that he had it engineered somehow that every time I turned on the golf cart (that was now a pink Wham! Mobile) it blasted full volume, ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.'" Despite Pitt's commitment to pranks, Hill has promised to get him back one day. "I really just wracked my brain," he said, deadpan. "And I have one [prank] that I'm gonna wait to reveal on Letterman."

Beyond the fun of working with Pitt, Hill also had a lot to say on the subject of youth in the media, and how his own success correlates with today's "youth movement."

"I think the culture is kind of changing with people like Mark Zuckerberg," he said, noting that the accomplishment of Facebook marked a huge step forward for young people who want to make their mark on the world. "I became well known … at 22 years old, and I made some mistakes because I was too immature in certain ways to handle the responsibility. ... And I matured, and I hopefully came out the other end knowing something," he laughed.

Hill was reflective on this point about gaining new opportunities with age and was excited about being able to participate in a drama for the first time. Moneyball has given Hill the chance to broaden his acting horizons, something he hopes to continue well into the future. "What's interesting is that I feel right now the way I felt when Superbad was coming out," Hill said thoughtfully.

"Very similarly, because with Superbad I was an underdog, I was on a movie poster and you didn't know who I was, and I said: ‘Hey, my name is Jonah, I'm in this movie, and I would like to make more of these kinds of movies and I hope you accept me. Watch the movie!'" he chortled. "And now it's not unexpected for me to do a comedy—I'm no longer an underdog within the comedy world. Now, with this film I'm the underdog again, because I'm unlikely to be chosen to be in this movie with Brad and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. So [now] I'm saying, ‘Hey, I'm Jonah, I'm in this totally different movie that you've never seen me in, and I'd like to make more of these. And I hope you accept me again.'"