Kevin Hart, who is also an executive producer, and Taraji P. Henson star as Chicken Man and Vivian Thomas in Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist. New episodes of the series are released Thursdays through October 10, only on Peacock.
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, based on the acclaimed iHeart true-crime podcast, follows the infamous story of how an armed robbery on the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight changed not only one man’s life but ultimately transformed Atlanta into the “Black Mecca.” When a hustler named Chicken Man (Kevin Hart) hosts an afterparty to celebrate the fight with a guest list of the country’s wealthiest, the night ends with the most brazen criminal underworld heist in Atlanta’s history. Suspected of masterminding the crime, Chicken Man is hellbent on clearing his name but must convince his old adversary, J.D. Hudson (Don Cheadle), one of the first Black detectives in the city’s desegregated police force, who is tasked with bringing those responsible to justice.
“For me, it’s always interesting doing these period pieces, because you do have to change up your tempo a bit because the time requires that. The ’70s, people walk different, they talk different, the tempo is different, so I’m always interested to play these different eras where I wasn’t an adult yet ‘cause it requires research. It requires you to learn a little something about something you didn’t know about. So that’s where I start,” Henson explained. “We all did what was necessary for these roles and that’s why it’s so important to cast ‘cause once you get the cast, the work is done. Set the camera up and shoot, ‘cause you got the right cast.”
Hart then added, “I mean, piggybacking off of what Taraji said, the cast, I can’t say it enough, it’s the most important piece to any puzzle, right? And we were just lucky enough to have a cast that was fueled and filled with past history of good rapport. We all have known each other, admired one another, and I think having the table set for us to go and sit at and all eat from, that was a big deal. So the cast, always the most valuable piece to anything, and if done correctly, the rest of it is history.”
I spoke with the duo about reuniting for this project, the all-star cast, and their approach to telling this story.
Watch my interview below:
