Fight Night Changed the Way Terrence Howard Sees Kevin Hart: “I Was Always a Fan … ”
The distinguished cast of Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, which includes Samuel L. Jackson, Terrence Howard, Don Cheadle, and Kevin Hart are singing each other’s praises as the show premieres on Peacock.
Kevin Hart gained a new fan of his acting abilities even before his latest series hit Peacock.
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, which also stars Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, and Samuel L. Jackson, is based on a hit true crime podcast about an infamous heist and is executive produced by Emmy nominee Will Packer (Girls’ Trip). Packer shared the podcast with Hart and they quickly joined forces to produce the project, he told NBC Insider.
“That’s the moment when we strategically started thinking about what the great chess pieces would be, if you will, to put on the board to bring all this together and that’s how we got this amazing cast,” Packer said.
Packer, along with one of the show's other stars, Terrence Howard, detailed what those cast relationships on set were like in a recent interview with NBC Insider.
What is Peacock’s new show Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist about?
At the center of the scripted take on the story is a local hustler called Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams (Kevin Hart) who wanted to take advantage of the entire country setting their sights on Atlanta for Muhammad Ali’s greatly anticipated return to the boxing ring in 1970.
With the help of his lover Vivian (Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson), he throws together an after-party with a guest list stacked with powerful, wealthy figures, including organized crime bosses like Frank Moten (Oscar nominee Samuel L. Jackson) and Cadillac Richie (Oscar nominee Terrence Howard). However, things go awry when armed robbers crash the party.
The hunt for who’s responsible is a race between scorned partygoers and Detective J.D. Hudson (Oscar nominee Don Cheadle).
Terrence Howard Was “Blown Away” By Kevin Hart’s Acting in Peacock’s Fight Night
Howard was always a fan of Hart’s work as a comedian, he explained to NBC Insider.
“I had never really known him as an actor until these scenes and I was so blown away by his artistic ability to tell the truth, and even have some funny moments, but he hits a level of sincerity, you know as a comedian … but as a person that I had never seen before,” Howard said while praising Hart’s performance.
He added with a chuckle: “I am a fan of him as an actor … now I’m like, ‘Oh, I gotta beat Kevin now.’”
The show boasts a star-studded cast, which Howard was thrilled about. Howard and Henson previously starred on Empire together, for example, marking an exciting onscreen reunion for him, but he also relished the opportunity to work with Hart and Jackson for the first time.
“I always wanted to work with Sam and with Kevin, you know, I’d never had that opportunity,” Howard said. “Having that opportunity to play with them and then having their respect, the amount of respect that they show me and show the character that meant so much.”
The feeling was mutual, it seems. During their joint interview with NBC Insider, Packer shared how Howard’s castmates raved about his work on Fight Night: “The one person who got universal praise from his peers on that set was Terrence Howard.”
“There are conversations that that cast would have about the performances of the other actors because people sometimes work on different days and so people felt safe coming to me and say, ‘Hey, how’d that scene go with Terrence and Kevin?’” Packer explained, sharing the moments with Terrence. “Especially, when you’re talking about Sam, Don Cheadle, Kevin Hart, Taraji, they would all talk about how Terrence was really bringing it on this project when Terrence wasn’t around. I never said that to you, but each and every one of them, we would have these side conversations, and they would go you know, ‘Terrence is serious on this.’"
Watch the first three episodes of Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist now exclusively on Peacock. The eight-part series will have a new episode drop every Thursday.
