*This interview was originally posted on our sister website, Awards Radar.
Peacock’s new limited series, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, based on the acclaimed iHeart true-crime podcast, follows a hustler named Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams (Kevin Hart), who hosts an afterparty to celebrate Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight, with a guest list of the country’s wealthiest, including “The Black Godfather” (Samuel L. Jackson). However, the night ends with the most brazen criminal underworld heist in Atlanta’s history. Suspected of masterminding the crime, Chicken Man is hellbent on clearing his name but must convince his old adversary, J.D. Hudson (Don Cheadle), one of the first Black detectives in the city’s desegregated police force, who is tasked with bringing those responsible to justice.
With cast that also includes Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, and Lori Harvey, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, tells the story of how an armed robbery changed not only one man’s life but ultimately transformed Atlanta into the “Black Mecca.” We talked with star Kevin Hart and executive producer Bryan Smiley about working with the stellar cast, Hart’s process on set, and how Hart’s Hartbeat Productions got involved in the project.
First of all, congratulations on the series. I thought it was great, Really, really engaging.
Bryan Smiley: Thank you.
Kevin Hart: Thank you, man.
Kevin, you worked with some pretty heavy hitters on this one. Can you talk about working with the cast, and what you may have learned from them?
KH: Every day was an education. I really love the fact that when you work with talent of that caliber, you can see how they approach their work day. Everybody has a different process, a different road to prep and to personal success in making the material the best that it possibly can be. So, seeing how Sam approaches, seeing Dom, seeing Taraji, who I was very active with throughout the series, it was amazing. You really got to see how much they see outside of the material on page, how much more matters to the world of the performance, and how much they create to make the things that you’re doing make more sense. So, for me, it was just good to kind of be a fly on the wall, a sponge, and soak things up. They were never not giving with the information or the reasons. They were also always supportive. And after a take, we all developed a nice yin and yang of possibility on set, which is very refreshing as well.
What’s your process like on set? Can you turn it on and off between takes? Do you stay in character? How do you like to work?
KH: The answer is yes (laughing). I don’t want anybody to ever see my process and try to gravitate towards doing that. I’m very much a multitasker. I’m the guy that’s in the scene, and when you say cut, on a call, and doing things, or I’m behind the camera, or I’m talking to this person, and I’m figuring out. There’s always a lot going on. So, for me, it’s about being able to react and not taking away my opportunities to do that at a very high level, and always doing it within context. But the more fresh the material, the more current, the more I’m able to do with it. I don’t like to overstudy and over-engage myself with the page, because I become robotic. So, it’s very much a loose road up until we’re actually rolling the cameras on the day; just making sure I know my story, I know my bullet points, I know my world. Now let me operate in the world and see how my partner does it. It’s always having a nice one foot in, one foot out ability to give it to you, and you can give it back to me. I think that’s how you get the most out of a scene.
Bryan, I know that Shaye Ogbonna developed the story from the Fight Night podcast, but how did Hartbeat Productions get involved in the project?
BS: Well, it’s funny, we’ve developed great relationships over the years, and one of our dear partners, Will Packer at Will Packer Media, said, “You guys need to listen to this podcast. I think there’s a great series here.” And I think Will, knowing us so much, was totally right. So we listened to the podcast, and we agreed that it was the kind of story you wanted to bring to life, wanted to bring to a series. And from that place forward, we put all hands on deck and really helped make this thing a reality.
Kevin, would you say you brought anything to the role for Chicken Man that was not necessarily on the page?
KH: I mean, yeah, you have to think and know that you did, right? There’s certain versions of my perception of what Chicken Man did at the time that I felt would better provide more story, more context to some of these relationships and some of the reason why they fell apart or why they coexisted. I think the biggest thing was the relationship between my household and the relationships that I created outside of my household. That was the toughest story, because you want the audience to understand why both of these worlds were necessary and so instrumental in how he approached his life and his day-to-day, and making an audience see that, but at the same time, still root for you and still like you. That’s a fine line that you’re walking. So, how we developed that rapport between me and the other actresses I think was done very, very well.
It was done through some creative choices that myself, the director, and my counters that we were all aligned with. I would say some Kevinisms were brought to the table in that regard, but for the other part of staying true to the time period, trying to get the cadence, trying to get the dialogue, trying to get all that stuff down, and making sure that you’re consistent with it, you don’t have a lot of wiggle room there. You want to play less, and the places where you do have an opportunity to maybe play a little bit, making sure is not excessive to compromise the performance that you were doing on the other side. So, it was finding that balance so that the seesaw never went too high up on one side or too low on the other.
Well, gentlemen, I appreciate the time, and congratulations again. It was great. Good luck.
KH: Thank you, man.
BS: Thanks, Jeff.
You can watch our interview with Kevin Hart and Bryan Smiley below.
The first three episodes of Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist are currently streaming on Peacock, with new episodes every Thursday through October 10, 2024.