The Big Picture

Lift, starring Kevin Hart, is a heist comedy that brings suspense, innovation, and action to the genre. The ensemble cast, including Vincent D’Onofrio and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, takes the heist to new heights on a plane mid-flight. The heist genre’s appeal lies in the audience feeling like a part of the crew, going on a journey, and being involved in solving the puzzle.

One of Netflix’s first big releases for 2024 is F. Gary Gray’s (Straight Outta Compton) heist comedy, Lift, starring Kevin Hart and an ensemble cast of misfit experts. From an expert on the genre himself, and featuring Hart in a more grounded role than fans are used to seeing, Lift brings the suspense, innovation, and more if you’re looking for your next action-packed comedy.

In addition to Hart, Lift stars Vincent D’Onofrio, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sam Worthington, Billy Magnussen, Yun Jee Kim, and Úrsula Corberó in a heist movie that takes the stakes up 40,000 feet in the air. This thrilling take on the genre sends the group of criminals, rounded up by their leader, Cyrus Whitaker (Hart), to the skies where their mission is to secure $500 million in gold from a plane, mid-flight.

The formula sounds tried, but it’s true. According to castmates D’Onofrio, Magnussen, and Kim, it’s a particular combination that makes films like these, and Gray’s previous movies like Set It Off and The Italian Job, so appealing to audiences. Check out the trio’s interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub in the video above, or you can read the full conversation below for the secret to every heist movie’s success, which scenes they looked forward to filming, working on location, and what it was like collaborating with Gray.

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 Distributor(s) Netflix

COLLIDER: With a movie like this where you get to travel the world and someone else is paying for it, is it sort of like, “Is the script pretty good? Yeah, I’m in.”

VINCENT D’ONOFRIO: Yeah. “It’s a Kevin Hart film? Let me read it.” It’s like, “Oh, Kevin Hart is in it? Great, great.” Then it’s like, “What? We’re shooting all over the world? Yes, I’m in. Let’s get the deal done.”

BILLY MAGNUSSEN: Again, the script was there. That’s always easy. That’s where it starts. It starts with the script, but then all these other things are bonuses.

Image via Netflix

As I said, you got to travel the world. Of the locations you went to, what’s the place you would go back to if you could?

YUN JEE KIM: Venice.

MAGNUSSEN: Italy.

D’ONOFRIO: I’d definitely visit Cortina again.

KIM: Oh, Cortina was nice.

MAGNUSSEN: Cortina was gorgeous. I had gone back after that.

KIM: Oh, you did?

MAGNUSSEN: Well, to the Dolomites, because it was just so breathtaking.

D’ONOFRIO: I think the Italy portion, for sure. I’d been to Venice before, actually several times in my life, but I’ve never been to that area of Italy where Cortina is gorgeous.

MAGNUSSEN: Gorgeous.

D’ONOFRIO: Just so beautiful.

MAGNUSSEN: Our main hub was always Belfast, Ireland.

D’ONOFRIO: Which is great.

MAGNUSSEN: Yeah, I look at it so fondly. It was definitely dark in the winter, though.

KIM: And cold.

Yes, I have experienced that.

Vincent D’Onofrio Explains the Heist Genre’s Secret to Success

For all three of you, what do you think it is about the heist genre and watching bands of misfits on screen that people just love?

MAGNUSSEN: I think it’s probably the same thing that got you into the film industry. You want to go on the journey with the characters. They’re painting this beautiful world, you feel like you’re a part of the crew, you have to figure out what’s actually transpiring and how to solve the puzzle. You’re a part of it, you don’t feel separated from AAA. That’s my assumption about you. [Laughs] It gets exciting. I mean, you have video game consoles, I see, behind you and stuff like that. I love feeling a part of the adventure, and that’s what always gets me involved. And to have a crew like this, and the interplay between it all, you feel close, you feel intimate with them. It’s exciting for me.

KIM: I think it’s fun to see how each of the characters play different roles in the mission and how they all come together in the end. As an audience, you feel part of it and you feel like you’re succeeding in a mission with them.

D’ONOFRIO: I think it’s one of those structures of storytelling that seems to always work because as an audience member, you know it’s gonna turn out okay but you’re still interested in, “Are they gonna fail or not?” It’s just a structure that works in storytelling and film, especially in film. It’s amazing that way. It’s just one of those special structures that are gonna be repeated again and again. There’s gonna be variations on variations on variations of it, and I think it’s entertaining.

When you guys saw the shooting schedule, what was the day that you had circled in terms of, “I cannot wait to film this,” or, “Oh my god, we have to film this?”

MAGNUSSEN: I always look forward to the ensemble scenes. Those were the ones. Again, working with these people, that was the best part was the ensemble and just being excited to work with them. There was not a specific day of shooting, but it was just building out the relationships with the other actors and their characters that always was exciting for me, at least for me as an actor.

D’ONOFRIO: Much more fun in the scenes when all of us were there, but also off camera too. Like, if it was a day where there were long setups and stuff, that’s usually the most, if not always the most boring part of filmmaking where you just have to wait. But we waited with each other most of the time, and that just made the day much easier and much faster and much more pleasant.

KIM: I think I looked forward to the group scenes. We would always ask, like, “Are you on tomorrow? Okay, yay!”

MAGNUSSEN: But also flying around the world on Netflix’s dime, so waiting for those scenes. [Laughs]

Image via Netflix

So a lot of people won’t realize, but I believe Vic Armstrong was your second unit director, and you also got to work with F. Gary Gray, which are two really good people. I’m not sure how much you worked with Vic, but can you talk about how they’re similar, how they’re different, and what it’s like working with your first unit and your second unit director?

MAGNUSSEN: I think it all stems from F. at the end of the day because it’s his vision of the world. You have to have the captain of the ship, and if it’s not aligned, it doesn’t matter the second unit, it all has to come from one point eventually. So, I think it all interplayed with each other, and I didn’t feel a big difference.

KIM: No, me either.

D’ONOFRIO: No, I think on some films, whether it’s second unit or a first unit, sometimes you know that you’re just leaving it to the director and the DPs of the day to just do their thing. You trust that it’s gonna fit and suit the genre perfectly, and then we could just concentrate on the acting part of it and stuff. Other films, sometimes you’re concerned with the way they’re shooting it, and you wanna know about why they’re doing it this way or that way or the other way. But on this film, whether we were in first or second unit, it was a strong camera crew and strong DPs, and strong directors behind the camera. So, it was like all we had to do is get our scenes right or make sure our scenes were written correctly and acted correctly. It’s nice to work on a set like that.

KIM: Yeah, I think they both felt very similar.

Lift is now available to stream on Netflix.

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