Long before ordering Miles Teller and Jonah Hill off to the front lines, The Hangover director Todd Phillips came close to enlisting Shia LaBeouf and Batman V Superman star Jesse Eisenberg for his gleefully over-the-top action comedy, War Dogs.
Opening in theaters today, August 19, Phillips revealed to Cinema Blend that the thriller formerly known as Arms and the Dudes originally had LaBeouf attached to the part of vain gunrunner Efraim Diveroli, with Eisenberg slotting into the role of his partner-in-war-crime, David Packouz.
So, what changed? According to Phillips, a deal didn’t stick, though considering that both he and screenwriters Stephen Chin and Jason Smilovic wrote the script with Jonah Hill in mind, it would appear things worked out for the best.
Just to speak to that first part, [Jesse Eisenberg and Shia LaBeouf] were attached for a moment, and then we ended up pushing the movie an entire year and both guys became unavailable. And to speak to that further, and they both know this, we wrote the script for Jonah. When I first went to Jonah, before we pushed the movie, Jonah actually turned it down. I then cast it with [Eisenberg and LaBeouf], then we pushed the movie a year for production reasons and that’s when they became unavailable.
War Dogs opens in theaters today, August 19. Our review found the factual wartime actioner to be an über-stylish romp and “Todd Phillips’ most mature release to-date.”