In his latest project on Peacock’s “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist,” Kevin Hart plays a fast-talking, glad-handing hustler, which on the surface is not far off from many of his past movie roles.
But this time around, his Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams character takes on far more nuance and pursues a lot less gratuitous wisecracking than in films like “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” “Ride Along” or “Night School.” Chicken Man, despite his goofy nickname, earnestly wants to do better for himself and his family beyond the illegal lottery numbers game he plays in the Collier Heights neighborhood of Atlanta in 1970.
Chicken Man, eager to move up in the world, hosts a casino house party for some big-time out-of-town gangsters after a Muhammad Ali comeback fight in Atlanta. But another group of opportunists robbed the partygoers of up to $1 million in jewelry and cash, not realizing the gangsters were part of the infamous and vengeful Black Mafia.
Chicken Man spends the final five episodes scrambling to clear his name since he had nothing to do with the robbery.
By turning the story into an eight-episode series instead of a two-hour film, the producers were able to provide Hart a greater opportunity to show off his dramatic acting chops.
Chicken Man “is a hustler,” said Hart in a brief Zoom interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to promote the TV series earlier this week. “I’ve never played a hustler of this magnitude. My fan base, my audience will be blown away by what I was able to do, how I was able to align myself with the big names who are a part of this cast who helped me give the best performance I’ve ever done.”
A scene in the second episode featured a tense, pivotal showdown between a very angry Frank Moten (Samuel L. Jackson) and Chicken Man, where both describe their visions of what Atlanta could become.
Shaye Ogbonna, creator and showrunner, said he looked at another producer while that scene was being shot because they both saw something new from Hart.
“I knew he had it in him to be a great dramatic actor and I saw it happening right in front of my eyes,” Ogbonna said. “Wow! I saw him come up in that moment. I could see the choices going on in his head.”
Jackson’s Moten, a ruthless killer with entrepreneurial flair who grew up in Georgia but made a name for himself in New York City, views Chicken Man with a blend of wariness, condescension and, ultimately, respect. Chicken Man is a great talker who sometimes can’t stop talking.
“This is a story of verbal warfare versus actual action,” Hart said. “The two don’t meet hand in hand; that’s where the disarray comes from.”
This was more than a heist movie, Hart added: “The city of Atlanta is our lead character in this cast of stars. Nobody understood how Atlanta got to be where it is today. It’s because of out-of-the-box thinkers. Chicken Man wanted to be in the center of it all.”
Will Packer, one of the executive producers who helped propel Hart’s career into overdrive in 2012 with the movie “Think Like a Man,” said Hart was the primary driver who helped make the entire Atlanta-based project happen.
But ironically, a decade ago, Hart was pursuing a different but related project: a remake of the Sidney Poitier/Bill Cosby film “Uptown Saturday Night,” which was loosely based on the actual heist. Packer at the same time was trying to turn “Fight Night” into a movie. But both languished. Packer’s 2020 podcast about the true heist story convinced Hart to come on board with Peacock. Hart also helped get other big-name actors including Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Terence Howard and Don Cheadle.
Cheadle in many ways had the most difficult character to play: JD Hudson, a Black police detective in 1970. Hudson had to grapple with bosses who didn’t listen to him, racist colleagues and the basic tension of arresting fellow Black men when opportunities for them were so limited.
“Don’s such an artist,” said Kenny Burns, one of the executive producers. “It all started with what was on the page and what JD embodied. Don dove into the podcast deeper than the other actors. He did so much research. He needed to find a way into this character that made him more than just a Black cop in the white Atlanta police force. Don wanted to bring humanity to his character, to make you understand what why he did what he did.”
Cheadle said the challenge of Hudson was balancing his inner self and his outer self: “There was as much unsaid as there was said. When we have the great production value we had, the clothes, the hair, the makeup, the cars, the sets, it allows you to disappear into that and take care of the character and what you are trying to do moment to moment.”
Credit: Eli Joshua Adé/PEACOCK
Credit: Eli Joshua Adé/PEACOCK
Hudson spends the first four episodes assigned to ensure Dexter Darden’s Ali character remains safe. Their initially contentious relationship builds into mutual understanding.
“These are two men, very headstrong, very clear what their ideas of right and wrong are,” Cheadle said. “They had to come to loggerheads, stand their ground and fight it out to enable them to see the other person’s perspective.”
After the heist, Hudson ends up teaming up with Chicken Man to find the culprits and prove Chicken Man’s innocence.
“Kevin and I have been trying to work together for over a decade,” Cheadle said. “It’s great we finally got the opportunity to do so.”
IF YOU WATCH
“Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist,” first three episodes available now on Peacock, with five more episodes released one at a time weekly every Thursday until Oct. 10.
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