NEW YORK — Truth is stranger than fiction — just ask Jonah Hill.

The Oscar-nominated star of Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street returns to movie theatres this week in War Dogs, playing a real-life 20-something arms dealer — Efraim Diveroli — who helped secure a $300-million deal to arm the Afghan military in 2007.

The contract, which was orchestrated with the help of his stoner pal David Packouz (Miles Teller), landed the pair on the front page of the New York Times after the deal went south.

Their run came to an abrupt end when it was revealed the ammo they were providing to the Afghan military in the $300-million deal came from China — which was a no, no.

Diveroli was imprisoned for four years.

“I mostly watch documentaries and if this was something a creative writer had made up, you wouldn’t make it,” Hill tells Postmedia Network in an exclusive interview in a midtown Manhattan hotel. “You’d think, ‘This is a really cool story, with cool characters, but no one will believe this could actually happen.’ ”

The film, which is directed by The Hangover’s Todd Phillips, is based on a 2011 Rolling Stone article written by Guy Lawson.

“This story was hiding on the front page of the New York Times,” Lawson tells a group of reporters. “There was a photo of these two dudes who had supposedly scammed the Pentagon and lied and cheated their way to a $300-million contract...”

Diveroli and Packouz were able to try and secure contracts to supply the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the mid-2000s after the George W. Bush administration opened up bidding to just about anyone.

The high school pals went after “crumbs” between bong hits and nights partying in Miami. And they made millions.

“These kids got themselves into places that a generation ago they could have never got,” Lawson says.

“They ran a business,” Phillips adds. “It’s a very valid business, they just ended up getting railroaded in the end and making some very bad decisions.”

“What’s interesting is that Moneyball, Wolf of Wall Street and this movie all feature people finding an angle,” Hill says. “That’s the ember in each one of those stories. They’re finding a way into something — like a little loophole. In Moneyball it’s a positive thing, in Wolf of Wall Street it’s a negative thing and in this film, it’s a very ambiguous thing. They’re not breaking the law, until they do ... if the government says it’s legal, is it OK? That’s what everyone has to decide.”

During the rest of our interview, Hill sounded off on war profiteering, playing a villain and shared his oddest fan encounter.

When you first read Guy Lawson’s article on Efraim and David becoming arms dealers in their 20s, how blown away were you?

That was the most enticing part of the whole thing ... Sometimes it takes the fact that it’s the truth to get you to really be excited about something.

You’ve played two morally bankrupt characters in recent years — Donnie Azoff in Wolf of Wall Street and now Efraim in War Dogs. What’s the attraction to these types of characters?

I’m immensely attracted to playing them, but they’re not really that fun to play because you realize — especially in terms of Efraim — he’s using people’s love and affection for him to manipulate and lie to them. That can’t help but kind of stick with you or get inside you in some ways...

Did you meet the real-life Efraim?

He just wasn’t available to me. I would have loved to. I think he was getting out of prison as we were finishing the movie.

You tried to acquire the film rights and after Todd Phillips approached you to star, you turned him down. Why?

I said no a couple of times. Initially it was because Wolf of Wall Street had just come out and playing a slimy character again, who had these morally questionable behavioural traits, I wanted to make sure they weren’t too similar. Todd kept working and working on the script and finally the character got too good to pass up. I actually really enjoy working with people who are at a point in their career where they’re trying to make a pivot, like Todd was trying to do at this time. I can personally relate to it...

Were you aware that these big military contracts were basically open to anybody?

No, it was a big revelation to me. It was completely illuminating. I had no idea that anything like this was going on ... You kind of walk away going, there are people profiting off war, which is scary ... it was shocking to me that there was a business and people were becoming rich off war.

You mentioned getting fist-bumped by a pair of South African arms dealers at a restaurant and bro-y, stock-market people coming up to you after Wolf of Wall Street. Do you find that weird?

It freaks you out because you’re just playing a character. A lot of times, you’re showing how crazy and f---ed up people are and a lot of people get that, but there are some that don’t and misinterpret it as support for that kind of behaviour. Efraim’s story is interesting because it’s very legal until it’s not ... In Wolf of Wall Street, they were really hurting people financially. War Dogs is more of a question than a statement. Is what they’re doing wrong? Efraim and David saw an avenue to make money and they went for it.

You’re in the animated comedy Sausage Party, but you’ve been making more of a switch into dramatic roles. Why did you want to change?

When you’re young you do anything that’s offered to you; you’re just trying to work and be in movies and work as an actor ... I really think, just now in the past couple of years, I’m really getting to do stuff more consistently that is in line with my tastes ... It’s hard; people want you to repeat what you’ve already done, over and over. And it takes a bit of stability and confidence to say, ‘OK, I’m just going to choose the things I think are the best for me’ ... I’ve done stuff that I’m not psyched on or would do over again, but right now I feel like I’m in a really lucky, centred place of getting to really be thoughtful about what I choose to be a part of.

Would you ever want to play a really bad guy?

I don’t know if being a villain is a dream role (laughs). But it’s something that I’d love to do. I’d love to be a Bond villain — that would be really cool.

You were recently in a viral video in which your friend Leonardo Di Caprio played an overzealous fan and scared you in the middle of the street. What’s your oddest fan encounter?

I once met a baby named Jonah and the parents said they named him after me. That was pretty surreal and weird. I don’t know if they were lying to be nice, but I meet this baby and the parents are like, ‘Our son is named after you.’ That was really cool and strange. Oh, and tattoos. Some people have shown me tattoos that they’ve gotten. One was of Donnie eating the goldfish in Wolf of Wall Street. It was huge.

Leonardo DiCaprio Hilariously Pranks Jonah Hill By Pretending To Be Overzealous Fan: https://t.co/C7zdUWZdrhpic.twitter.com/wPDKp4I7Ht — On Air/Ryan Seacrest (@OnAirWithRyan) August 7, 2016

Twitter: @markhdaniell

Mdaniell@postmedia.com