Kevin Hart gained a new fan base with his acting skills even before his latest series was released on Peacock.
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Robbery, which also stars Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson, is based on a successful true crime podcast about a notorious robbery and is directed by Emmy-nominated Will Packer (Girls trip). Packer shared the podcast with Hart and they quickly teamed up to produce the project, he said NBC Insiders.
“That was the moment when we started thinking strategically about what great chess pieces we were going to put on the board, so to speak, to bring the whole thing together, and that’s how we came up with this fantastic cast,” Packer said.
Packer and one of the other stars of the series, Terrence Howard, described in a recent interview with NBC Insiders.
What is Peacock’s new show Fight Night: The Million Dollar Robbery about?
The scripted version of the story centers on a local crook named Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams (Kevin Hart), who seeks to take advantage of the fact that the entire country has its sights set on Atlanta, where Muhammad Ali’s highly anticipated return to the boxing ring took place in 1970.
With the help of his lover Vivian (Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson), he organizes an after-party with a guest list full of powerful, wealthy figures, including organized crime bosses like Frank Moten (Oscar nominee Samuel L. Jackson) and Cadillac Richie (Oscar nominee Terrence Howard). However, everything goes wrong when armed robbers crash the party.
The hunt for the person responsible is a race between the spurned party guests and Detective JD Hudson (Oscar nominee Don Cheadle).
Terrence Howard was “blown away” by Kevin Hart’s acting in Peacocks Fight Night
Howard was always a fan of Hart’s work as a comedian, he explained NBC Insiders.
“I didn’t really know him as an actor until those scenes, and I was so blown away by his artistry in telling the truth and even incorporating some funny moments. But he achieves a sincerity, you know, as a comedian… but also as a human being that I had never seen before,” Howard said, praising Hart’s performance.
He added with a chuckle: “I’m a fan of his as an actor… now I’m like, ‘Oh, now I have to beat Kevin.'”
The show boasts an all-star cast, which Howard was thrilled about. Howard and Henson previously starred in Rich For him, for example, it was an exciting on-screen reunion, but he also enjoyed the opportunity to work with Hart and Jackson for the first time.
“I always wanted to work with Sam and Kevin, you know, I never got the chance,” Howard said. “To have the opportunity to act with them and then have their respect, the respect they have for me and the character they show, it meant so much to me.”
The feeling seemed to be mutual. During their joint interview with NBC InsiderPacker told how Howard’s colleagues raved about his work Fight Night: “The only person on set who received universal praise from his colleagues was Terrence Howard.”
“The cast has conversations about the other actors’ performances because sometimes people work different days and so they felt safe coming up to me and saying, ‘Hey, how did that scene go with Terrence and Kevin?'” Packer explained, sharing the moments with Terrence. “Especially when you talk about Sam, Don Cheadle, Kevin Hart and Taraji, they all talk about how Terrence really drives this project when Terrence isn’t there. I’ve never said this to you, but with every single one of them, we’d have these side conversations and they’d say, you know, ‘Terrence means business.'”
Watch the first three episodes of Fight Night: The Million Dollar Robbery now exclusively on Peacock. The eight-part series will have a new episode every Thursday.
