The Big Picture

Kevin Hart embraces a new challenge in the action-packed heist comedy Lift, working with acclaimed director F. Gary Gray and proving his ability to play grounded roles like criminal expert Cyrus Whitaker. Lift takes the thrills and suspense of heist movies to new heights, literally, as an international crew races to steal $100 million in gold from a plane mid-flight. In an interview, Hart, Mbatha-Raw, and Corberó discuss the appeal of heist movies like Lift, the energy of the ensemble cast, and Hart’s desire to make a shift in his career while still staying true to his comedic charm.

For Netflix’s action-packed heist comedy, Lift, Kevin Hart was excited to defy viewers’ expectations of him. He set out to work with acclaimed director, F. Gary Gray, to prove his ability to play more grounded roles and tackle a criminal expert like Cyrus Whitaker.

Starring Hart, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Vincent D’Onofrio, Sam Worthington, Billy Magnussen, and Úrsula Corberó, Lift takes the thrills and suspense of heist movies up 44,000 feet in the air. When Interpol agent and Cyrus’ ex, Abby Gladwell (Mbatha-Raw) gives him and his team of expert criminals an ultimatum, they’ll have to take on the riskiest job yet. As a payoff, they’ll have to intercept and lift $100 million in gold from a plane, mid-flight.

In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Hart, Mbatha-Raw, and Corberó discuss what makes audiences invest in movies like this, from Ocean’s Eleven to Gray’s Set It Off, and more. They talk about previous projects, the energy of the ensemble cast, and why Hart wanted to make a shift without going completely into left field. You can watch the full interview in the video above, or you can read the transcript below.

Lift An international heist crew, led by Cyrus Whitaker (Kevin Hart), race to lift $500 million in gold from a passenger plane at 40,000 feet. – Netflix Release Date January 12, 2024 Cast Kevin Hart , Gugu Mbatha-Raw , Vincent D’Onofrio , Úrsula Corberó , Billy Magnussen , Jacob Batalon , Jean Reno , Sam Worthington , Paul Anderson , Viveik Kalra , Burn Gorman Rating PG-13 Runtime 103 minutes Main Genre Heist Writers Daniel Kunka

COLLIDER: Congrats on the movie. I watched it yesterday. It’s super fun. It’s gonna be a big hit on Netflix. But for all three of you, besides Lift, if someone has never seen anything you’ve done before, what is the first thing you’d like them watching and why?

ÚRSULA CORBERÓ: Whoa!

GUGU MBATHA-RAW: Besides Lift?

Yeah, because everyone always says the project at hand, so I wanna take that one off the table.

CORBERÓ: Wow, that’s a tough one.

KEVIN HART: I’ll go first. I would say a movie that I would want everybody to see is a movie called Paper Soldiers. Paper Soldiers is the actual first movie that I was able to do, very low budget project, but it’s something where I was able to kinda cut loose and put what I think are comedic skills on display in an improv-ing manner. And that’s the reason why I got any other work, because of that tape — Paper Soldiers. That’s what I would point people to.

CORBERÓ: I think I would say something that hasn’t come out yet, but I have faith in the project. So I was shooting this movie in Argentina, that was like a year ago, and I had so much fun. It’s an indie movie with this director. I love him. I’ve been pushing him to call me for a role for the last three years [laughs], and he called me like, “Yeah, I had enough. I need to call her so she will stop doing these terrible things to me.” He’s Luis Ortega, and I’m very excited about the movie. I’ve been doing a lot of more commercial things lately, and I had the feeling that I was able to explore the character and everything in a different way, more freedom, and caring a little bit less about the audience. So, it was like an experimental thing for me. Wow, look at my English. [Laughs]

HART: You’re great.

CORBERÓ: So, yeah. I don’t even know the name of the movie yet, but it’s gonna be something like Matar al Jockey, “killing the jockey.”

MBATHA-RAW: I’d probably say Beyond the Lights that I got to do with Gina Prince-Bythewood, just because it was such a huge arc of a character and it was such a great relationship working with her.

Kevin Hart Says the All-Star Cast of ‘Lift’ Is the Heart of the Movie

Jumping into why I get to talk to you guys, obviously I am a huge fan of the heist genre. For all three of you, what do you think it is about the genre and watching these bands of misfits come together that everyone loves?

CORBERÓ: I feel people relate with them.

HART: I think when you’re talking about a band of misfits, the thing that always makes it most interesting is where they’re being pulled from, right? The misfits are always back into a regular space of life, and when they’re called upon, there’s a reason why they all step up. I think the most interesting thing is the commitment to the relationship, right? So in our case, Cyrus calls on people that he’s not only familiar with but that he’s worked with for the duration of what it is that he’s done, and the understanding and the trust and the loyalty attached to that. I think that’s where the meat comes from when you look at heist movies. Without that, without that foundation of relationship, of character, understanding and growth, it’s hard for your story to really have some legs on it. So in this case, everybody that got to the table, you didn’t question why, you knew why. And then, as we went through what we went through, you got why the commitment was one of, “If we’re gonna go down, we’re all gonna go down together,” which is what I love.

MBATHA-RAW: And everyone brings such a different energy, as well, I feel like. Obviously it’s an international cast, but every character has their own quirks and their own backstory.

CORBERÓ: And personality, as well. That’s why I wanted to say that; I think the audience can choose their avatar, you know what I mean? I think that’s kind of cool.

Kevin Hart Drops the One-Liners for Netflix’s ‘Lift’
Image via Netflix

Kevin, this is an individual question for you. One of the things about this role that I want you to talk about a little bit is that you’re not cracking one-liners. This isn’t grounded like it’s realistic, but it’s grounded in terms of your character. Can you talk a little bit about that aspect, and maybe if that’s one of the reasons you wanted to play this role?

HART: It’s the main reason why I wanted to play the role. I just think that I’m at a point in my career where it’s a lot of years and a lot of IP under my belt, and I just wanna start to explore and just have some fun of change, and find new levels of talent that I can put on display for my fan base that I have. And for those that may not be aware, maybe this is a way for them to become aware. If you don’t find anew, then things can get redundant, and I think you can get bored. So, always finding a reason to get up and get excited has always been a priority. This project got me excited to be the straight guy to a certain degree, but still have some charm, right? It’s not trying to go and do it to where it’s completely left field. I think Cyrus is the mastermind of it all, but there’s a nice charming cadence that he has in how he talks and deals with people that I thought was real grounded and nice.

Lift is now available to stream on Netflix.

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