[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist.]

The Big Picture

Peacock’s ‘Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist’ recounts an armed robbery during Muhammad Ali’s comeback, mixing crime and drama.
Kevin Hart and Taraji P. Henson discuss the casting process, and wanting real and grounded performances.
Henson’s character, Vivian, brings complex layers, challenging the actress, especially in a key dance scene.

The Peacock original series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, based on the true-crime podcast, tells the real-life tale of an armed robbery in Atlanta on the night of Muhammad Ali’s comeback fight in 1970. Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams (Kevin Hart) hosts an afterparty to celebrate alongside a guest list of the very wealthy but finds himself stuck between gangsters and robbers as the criminal underworld makes brazen moves. By Chicken Man’s side throughout everything is Vivan Thomas (Taraji P. Henson), his partner with benefits who helps make the hustle work and who also finds herself having to deal with the fallout of the heist.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Hart talked about what he’s looking for in projects when it comes to his production company, why he wanted to make sure the Fight Night cast would have material they could sink their teeth into, and why he doesn’t just give up on projects that don’t get the green light right away, while Henson discussed the many layers of her character that she was drawn to, and wanting to make the strip tease moment her own.

Related Who’s Who in Peacock’s ‘Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist’ – Meet the Powerhouse Cast Kevin Hart stars in the new series.

Collider: Kevin, when you’re looking for projects as a producer, what do you look for and how did this meet that criteria?

KEVIN HART: Right now, we’re figuring out what the definition of our company is. The base layer to it is looking for premium stories to tell where we can represent the culture on a global platform. We’re looking for a global pedestal to find and search for real stories that we can highlight correctly, and also be an incubation for great A-list talent and find ways to collaborate more with all layers of the talent pool, including directors, writers, showrunners, producers, actors and actresses. For right now, it’s being very, very persistent in our discovery, and not trying to do it all, but do a limited version of those things and do it correctly. I think that we’re growing as an entity and as a studio, and our return of the completed IP that we’ve done to date is a display of what that talent and what that result can be. Hopefully, we can follow that and stay true to it. Right now, it’s about showcasing it and hopefully having fans fall in love with things like Fight Night.

Kevin Hart Wanted the ‘Fight Night’ Cast To Have Material They Could Sink Their Teeth Into

Did you have a sense, from the beginning, the incredible possibilities of the cast that you could have for this?

HART: No. It’s a thought in the beginning, but then there’s a plan of how to basically position ourselves to execute it correctly. The thought was, to tell this story correctly, it had to be grounded, and it had to be real. We didn’t wanna add comedy to it, just because I’m coming from the world of comedy. We wanted to figure out the best way to make it real and believable, so the next stage of that was our talent pool. We were like, “Here’s who could make it great. Here’s the list that I’m pulling from and these are the names needed. Let’s make sure we position ourselves to go after them but give them something that they could sink their teeth into.” I’ve got to credit (producer) Will Packer for being very adamant about that approach. Collectively with him and his team, and myself and mine, we made sure to go get the big return of talent. From Taraji [P. Henson] to Sam [Jackson] to Don [Cheadle] to Terrence [Howard], you’re looking at a real wish list of possibilities. We’re very, very grateful and very humbled to have them at the table the way we do.

Taraji P. Henson is Drawn to Characters That Challenge and Scare Her, So ‘Fight Night’ Was Perfect
Image via Peacock

Taraji, your character is not just a female in this story. There are so many layers to her and there’s so much going on, even with just how she ended up where she is. What was it that spoke to you about this character?

TARAJI P. HENSON: Yeah, that’s what drew me to her. I like characters that challenge me. I actually like characters that scare the hell out of me because if I’m scared, that’s a fear that I have to overcome. That’s something that I have to get through. That’s a challenge for me. When I step into roles, I wanna challenge my audience. If I’m not challenged as an artist, how do I challenge my audience? So, I’m always looking for those complex roles that are gonna change me and make me uncomfortable so that I can force the audience to have a change of thought by making them uncomfortable. We grow together, we learn together, and we overcome this fear together. Vivian did that for me, and the reason she scared the hell out of me, it wasn’t character, it was how much I did not know about her. This is my first limited series. Usually when I get a script, the character is all there. If it’s a series, then I know where she’s going because they gave me the pages or the outline for the episodes coming. With this, I was learning about her as I was going. With the first episode, she’s not really in there. It took us talking a lot to mold her and to get her there. My character is loosely based, so there’s a little bit of fiction there. To make it all real, we did a lot of talking to really mold her. There were a lot of calls where I was like, “Oh, my God, I feel lost,” and I didn’t want to. I felt I was struggling for a minute, but then I found my footing. I was like, “Who is she?” They don’t really talk about her in the podcast, so there were lots of conversations to finally pin her down.

Related Peacock’s ‘Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist’ Is Not the Show You Think It Is What do you get when you mix a robbery, Muhammad Ali, and a boxing match for the ages?

There’s something so interesting about the dance scene that you have because there’s so much going on in that moment, and then she really takes control of it herself. How did you want to handle that moment? Did you have a choreographer? How did you work that out?

HENSON: I actually requested a choreographer because strip tease is very different from stripping today. Back then, it was classy. They didn’t really show much. It was more about sensuality. So, I wanted to be guided because I didn’t wanna get there and start twerking. So, I did a little bit of research, and then I had a choreographer come in. She didn’t really give me steps to do, but she was like, “Go here on this part, and here on this part.” And then, I made it mine. So, there was a little bit of choreography in there.

Related Don Cheadle on Teaming Up With “Chicken Man” Kevin Hart for ‘Fight Night’ Cheadle also talks about why he hasn’t directed in nearly a decade since making ‘Miles Ahead.’

I loved that scene because there is just so much going on, emotionally.

HENSON: Yeah, for sure. They were trying to break me.

Kevin Hart Wants To Find New and Refreshing Projects To Get Behind, Even if They Take Time To Get Made
Image via Netflix

Kevin, is there a project that you just haven’t been able to make happen, for whatever reason, but you still believe in it strongly enough that you will never give up on it? Is that how you tend to be, once you see the potential in something? Are you someone who will just never give up on a project?

HART: Yeah. There are a lot of things out there that still exist, that I’m trying my best to get to the final stages of what I think is good or is good enough material to go out and lean on relationships or other creators to come in and collaborate with me. But it’s not until they get there that you want to go out and have conversations. When I just look at the things that I’ve really held onto, that I feel is great content or displays of our culture, like Harlem Nights, Boomerang, Trading Places, or even Dream Girls, it’s not just about the movie, it’s about the characters, and it’s about having something good enough that you really give a shit about the characters and their journey. So, the search for finding characters for specific IP and not premise IP is where it has gotten a little tougher because all premises are the same in certain ways. Today, we’re looking at a lot of spy things, and a lot of the good cop/bad cop or the CIA, and the romantic version of the story attached to the journey. It’s all in the same space. So, where can you play in a realm of new or refreshing? That’s where you’ve gotta be patient and hone in and search old IP to resurface the discovery. Hopefully, you land on something, and if not, you’ve just gotta redevelop, and that takes a lot of time.

Release Date September 5, 2024 Cast Anthony B. Jenkins , Kevin Hart , Taraji P. Henson , Don Cheadle , Samuel L. Jackson , Terrence Howard , Sinqua Walls , Myles Bullock , Michael James Shaw , Atkins Estimond , Jayson Warner Smith , Terrence Terrell , Exie Booker , Dexter Darden , Chloe Bailey , Melvin Gregg , Jalyn Hall , Clifton Powell , Artrece Johnson , Justen Ross , Jeff Sprauve , David Banner , Alan Heckner , Vince Pisani , Tywayne Wheatt , Parker Sack , Dammon Earl Hughes , Teresa Celeste , Nala Thompson , Gabrielle E Jackson , Ananda Palmore , Marsha Stephanie Blake , Sam Adegoke Seasons 1 Creator(s) Shaye Ogbonna Directors Craig Brewer Expand

Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist is available to stream on Peacock, with the finale airing on Thursday, October 10. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Peacock