Kevin Hart returns to Netflix with the action-packed, blockbuster heist thriller Lift. He stars as Cyrus, a clever art thief with a motley and dedicated crew being hunted by Abby (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), an Interpol agent with a personal connection. She fell in love with Cyrus while both were undercover. Abby’s stunned when her boss (Sam Worthington) needs Cyrus’ help. A master criminal (Jean Reno) is paying a terrorist organization $500 million in gold bars. Cyrus must somehow steal that money from a Swiss flight to Zurich.

Lift marks a tonal change of character for Hart, who says, “This was an opportunity just to show another side of the talent within the craft of acting. I’ve been positioning myself for this for quite some time.” Hart takes “a step in a more serious direction” and allows “room for other amazing comedic personalities and talents, to not only shine, but to help elevate a story.” Lift’s $100 million dollar budget is also the “biggest film to date” for Hartbeat, Hart’s production company led by President & Chief Content Officer Bryan Smiley. “These are the opportunities that we’ve worked extremely hard for,” says Hart. He also credits director F. Gary Gray “as an amazing piece of that puzzle” along with producers Simon Kinberg and Matt Reeves.

Smiley adds that “Netflix has been such an incredible creative and business partner. We had really no pushback on how we put this movie together.” Hart hopes for future Lift sequels, saying, “I don’t want to speak prematurely about it. But if people show up, watch it, and the movie does what we think it will do. Then, of course, I think the world of Lift can go on. It was set up so that it can be a continuation.” Read on or watch above for our interview with Kevin Hart and Bryan Smiley.

Another Side of Kevin Hart’s Talent
Lift Release Date January 12, 2024 Rating PG-13

MovieWeb: Congrats on a very entertaining film. Kevin, Cyrus is as cool as the other side of the pillow. This is the most suave character I’ve seen you play. He’s in charge, but you let the comedic aspects go to the supporting cast. Talk about portraying such a sophisticated lead.

Kevin Hart: I think you hit it on the nose. This was an opportunity just to show another side of the talent within the craft of acting. I wanted to take on a different role to position myself to be a leading man for more than just the world of funny. I think I’ve been positioning myself for this for quite some time. When you look at the movies of the past, The Upside of Fatherhood, the series of True Story, just taking a step in a more serious direction.

Kevin Hart: And now, in doing that, you allow more room for other amazing comedic personalities and talents, to not only shine, but to help elevate a story that you can help carry in more of a serious manner. So, on this side, it was amazing to see guys like Billy [Magnussen] come in, show up, and show out. I was able to set them up with alley-oops and lobs, where at one point in time, that’s what people were doing for me. So it’s a nice little switch of understanding and positioning. But at this point in my career, I’m having a lot of fun with the ability to change up and navigate how I want, and how I choose.

MW: Let’s discuss Hartbeat. This is a big-budget action film. That plane scene is mind-blowing. Talk about getting the cast together, director F. Gary Gray, and bringing this film to Netflix?

Kevin Hart: I’ll start, and maybe you could chime in [Bryan]? First of all, for the company of Hartbeat, these are the opportunities that we’ve worked extremely hard for. By opportunities, I mean the moments of trust from a partner within the studio, to say, “We trust that this studio can now deliver.” They’ve done the work to get up and lead up to this moment. The big thing is the budget of $100 plus million being given to a company like ours, us being able to go out and help put the pieces of the puzzle together, that we think can help us best deliver. F. Gary Gray was an amazing piece of that puzzle.

Kevin Hart: I definitely want to take my hat off to Simon Kinberg as well, who was an amazing asset and amazing producer overall, but just acting as a great partner for us that we were able to learn and develop with. I think the biggest thing is, guys, this is what we do and what we can do. Let’s go get a cast. Let’s go get that director. Let’s go make sure that that story is grounded and real. The biggest focus after that is making sure that we do exactly what we said we could, which is deliver. I think from the priority aspect, that’s the biggest point. That’s the one thing that we focused on as a company and Bryan, you can chime in.

Bryan Smiley: Yeah, I mean, to Kevin’s point, this was our biggest film to date. We work with some amazing partners — Simon Kinberg, who’s produced and written some of the biggest movies of our time, and obviously Matt Reeves, an incredible filmmaker. But when we met with F. Gary Gray, Kevin and Gary really clicked. Gary has already done two other amazing heist movies, whether it’s Set It Off, or The Italian Job. So with this film, he wanted to do something really different. His vision for it is just really incredible. We are deeply excited for people to see it this Friday.

Related: The Best American Heist Movies, Ranked

The Appealing Characters of Lift

MW: Let’s talk about Black positivism on screen. You’ve got Cyrus and Abby, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. They have this beautiful relationship that you normally don’t see Black actors getting. Honestly, did you guys have to fight for this kind of casting? Or was that something Netflix was trying to promote?

Kevin Hart: No, it’s not a fight. I think, in the times of now, the conversation of struggle is highlighted more than the conversation of support. The support conversation should be forefront a little more, because the ones for diversity and inclusion, woman empowerment, is one that everybody’s already positioned themselves to be a part of the change. And when you look at materials all across the board, all the studios, all the streaming platforms, you’re seeing more diversity, and more leads of color on series, and movies than we ever have. The idea of struggle or the idea of fight, should just be, I don’t want to say put to the side, but at some point, we’ve got to realize that there is a change and has been a change.

Kevin Hart: When you talk about Hartbeat, just to put a real big spotlight on what we’ve done, we’re an entity that has provided premium content for our culture for quite some time. When you talk about True Story, that was me and Wesley Snipes. You’re looking at two leads of color, but we don’t have to say it because the content is so good. The content is what you’re talking about, not the actors’ [race], it’s a conversation later.

Kevin Hart: In this case, we wanted an amazing leading woman. Gugu acted and presented herself to be that, and was our choice from the start. The studio understood. “Wow, she’s great, she’s talented,” and making sure we put the right personnel around it was a priority because we wanted to focus on a global landscape. To do that, how do we tap into global personalities or global faces or global followings? We were very strategic with that. There’s a lot of amazing color, a lot of amazing diversity, and great appeal within our characters that we brought to the table.

Bryan Smiley: Just to add to that, Netflix has been such an incredible creative partner and business partner, from Ted, to Scott, and Bella, and Kira. They really gave us the freedom to do what we wanted to do from a creative standpoint. To Kevin’s earlier point, we had really no pushback on how we put this movie together. They’ve just been great partners in this process.

Related: Best Kevin Hart Movies, Ranked

MW: The Lift universe you’ve created has a lot of opportunities to go in other directions. Are we going to see further adventures of Cyrus, Abby, and the crew?

Kevin Hart: I mean, within success, all things can happen. I don’t want to speak prematurely about it. But if people show up, watch it, and the movie does what we think it will do. Then, of course, I think the world of Lift can go on. It was set up so that it can be a continuation, and if so, I’m on cloud nine about it.

MW: What’s the best and worst day for you both working on Lift?

Kevin Hart: I don’t think any day is a “worst day.” The reason why I say that is because the worst day is not having anything to work on. That’s the worst day, so the fact that you’re showing up every day, a problem or not, there’s always a space to solve it. There’s always a space for solution. That means that everybody’s putting their heads together and figuring it out. So the best day for me was getting the final go ahead and approvals on director, cast, and everyone. And knowing that we’re going into the start date with alignment. That’s the best day. I think the worst day is probably when the strikes and everything presented themselves, of course, which was out of our control. We were flip-flopping with when we were going to release and when we could, based off things that we had no control over.

Bryan Smiley: I’ll say the same thing. The reality is we’re making $100 million studio movies. There is no bad day. We are deeply fortunate to be able to create such an amazing film and to be a part of that. There’s this is no such thing as a bad day. The best day is what Kevin said the day we started filming was amazing. Because you talk about months and months of development, and work, to try and get that film to start. So when you’re actually on set and hearing Gary say action for the first time. That was incredible.

Lift premieres January 12th exclusively on Netflix, and you can watch through the link below:

Stream on Netflix