The first official image from The Hangover and Due Date filmmaker Todd Phillips’ new film with Jonah Hill and Miles Teller has debuted, courtesy of EW's Doctor Strange-heavy issue. While it’s not our first look at the film, it does raise a question. The director revealed some images on Instagram a while ago using the hashtag #ArmsAndTheDudes, which was the movie's title, but the film is now apparently untitled.
The image features Hill and Teller as Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz, two young men who won a $300 million contract with the Pentagon to supply America’s allies in Afghanistan with arms, and were later arrested and charged with 71 counts of fraud. The film is based on the Rolling Stone article by Guy Lawson (later expanded into a book) titled “The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders.” When casting and development were first revealed for the film adaptation, the title Arms and The Dudes was touted. However, EW’s image reveal refers to the film as Untitled Todd Phillips Project.
While we sort out this mystery, Hill described the project as “one of the craziest movies I’ve ever been in — in a great way.” He further noted how his real-life counterpart, Diveroli, declined to speak with him about the part. “I’m used to it,” he continued, “If a person is aggressively against me playing them, it’s probably a good sign.”
Phillips co-wrote the script Stephen Chin and Jason Smilovic, while the filmmaker will also produce along with Mark Gordon and Bradley Cooper. Most of the cast is filled out with relatively unknown and non-mainstream actors, including Ana de Armas, who’s most recent notable role was opposite Keanu Reeves in Knock Knock.
Speaking with Collider earlier this year, Teller compared the film to Goodfellas and American Hustle, as well as an opportunity for Phillips to come back to searching for “truth” after the raunchy comedy of the Hangover movies. Check out the photo below. The film opens in theaters on August 19, 2016.
