The desire for money is strong, often leading to illegal activity, or alleged illegal activity in the case of Millionaire James King in the new Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart film, Get Hard.
Upon receiving a jail sentence, Ferrell’s character, King, decides to prepare for prison by hiring a man he thinks knows the thug lifestyle – Darnell Lewis, played by Kevin Hart. I got the ins and outs from Ferrell and Hart.
The boys learnt a bit about jail during the making of this film. “In jail, they do use buckets sometimes to go number two,” said Hart.
I asked Ferrell if he feels he has truly ‘gotten hard.’ “I unfortunately don’t feel any more qualified or any more confident that I would survive in prison. So my best strategy would be to not go. I don’t know what role I would provide. I’d just have to act crazy to keep people away from me but they’ve seen that before,” laughed Ferrell. He added that he watched a lot of cooking shows in preparation, but it did not help him at all.
While the two comedians joke around a lot, Get Hard does touch on some more serious notes of stereotypes.
“I think it’s a great way to explore our differences. Once you kind of get through the chatter you realize how similar we all are. And through that examining through the filter of comedy, we’re just able to point out how silly these attitudes are that seem to pop up from time to time,” said Ferrell.
Get Hard also marks director Etan Cohen’s feature length directorial debut.
“It was a great experience working with Etan,” said Ferrell.
“We got lucky; we got a guy who’s a first time director but he’s been behind a camera lots where he’s soaked up some knowledge,” said Hart. “Etan’s confidence grew as the movie progressed and we got a final product because of it. I take my hat off to him, he did a good job.”
Ferrell and Hart were drawn to Cohen by a certain style.
“When you talk to him about a script in terms of his articulation on story, you can tell he sounded like he was a director. I think that’s kind of what gave us the confidence to want to work with him,” said Ferrell.
“Plus, in kind of a 1920s/1930s way, he wore those old director khaki pants and spoke through a bullhorn and used a riding crop. Those things really made him appear like a director.”
Big name comedians like Ferrell and Hart are also big fans of the comedy genre. If they could be in a remake of any old comedy film Hart would star in Turner & Hooch. “And if you think you’re playing Hooch you’re wrong, that’s my part,” stated Hart to Ferrell. Ferrell had a different idea altogether. “Remake of a classic comedy? Kramer vs. Kramer.”
You can catch Get Hard in theatres everywhere on March 27.
