Kevin Hart interview: On ‘Lift’ and his continuing romance with airplanes
(Originally published in The Hindu on January 08, 2024)
Kevin Hart has a complicated history with aeroplanes. In his 2004 film Soul Plane, his character suffers a horrible experience on a plane, after which he sues the airline and uses the money to start his own airline. In the 2016 American buddy action comedy Central Intelligence, he helps Dwayne Johnson’s character steal a plane. In 2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level, he is thrown off a light aircraft over a desert. His stand-up special Kevin Hart: Reality Check features a hilarious bit about being questioned about drugs by Mexican airport authorities. In 2018, appearing in Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kevin put a humourous spin on the time his plane blew a tyre after landing in Boston ahead of the NBA game between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers. And now, in his upcoming Netflix film Lift, Kevin stars as the leader of a group of misfits who use a jet to steal half a billion dollars worth of gold from a jet airliner that is hijacked by some bad men.
So, what’s the deal between Kevin Hart and airplanes? “(laughs) I love that. I didn’t think about that, but when you put it like that, maybe I am sick and there’s a problem here!” Kevin tells us over Zoom.
An avid traveller, Kevin says that air travel has become a big part of his life and that he meets people more often while flying. “And I have been able to have a lot of fun with it. From Soul Plane to the stories I have shared from my experiences, all of them are great moments, but the progression to telling a story like Lift is a game changer,” he says, adding that he hopes people take this movie as the best memory of him attached to a plane.
Read the full interview here: