Stand-up comedian Kevin Hart is showing a more serious side of himself these days. The Jumanji actor is starring in his first dramatic role, playing a new father whose wife dies shortly after childbirth in the Netflix movie Fatherhood.
The film is based on Matthew Logelin’s memoir, the New York Times best seller Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love. In the heartfelt story, Hart portrays Logelin who’s determined to raise his baby daughter alone while being entrenched with grief. Newcomer Melody Hurd plays his daughter Maddy, and Lil Rey Howery and Anthony Carrigan portray Logelin’s buddies who are there to support their friend through the ups and downs of parenting. Although Fatherhood is a tearjerker, Hart manages to show his funny side plenty of times throughout the dramedy.
Changing the Narrative
“When I found out about the movie and the role, I wanted to make some changes to it,” Hart told The Breakfast Club. Indeed, he took on the role of producer with Paul Weitz (About a Boy) directing the film.
Hart continued, “Of course I wanted to stay as close to the story as possible. We all agreed on the changes. And I love the story and the opportunity because I thought it was about time to change the narrative attached to a black man as a father on the big screen. When we’re portrayed on the big screen we’re always on drugs, off drugs, in jail, out of jail, not around, can’t be found, or we show up last minute, and it’s a story of why. And this is one that kind of has positive messaging through the story where you root for this guy, you understand the guy. But the love between he and his child are what really give him reason and want to go on.”
Hart hopes to inspire other dads to understand their true value and to fully embrace the importance of fatherhood.
On Playing a Dramatic Role
Hart acknowledges it’s quite a change for his audience to see him veer away from his comic roots. “It’s me checking another box in my career. And I’m just trying to stay that road of progression,” he says.
Being a father of four in real life, the Philadelphia native was able to rely heavily on his personal experience with parenting to give an authentic performance.
“It’s insane because a lot of the emotional strings that I had to tug and pull from … I can only imagine—I can’t imagine—but I tried to put some type of picture in my head as to what it would be like if it were me, if it were me and my little girl,” he explains. “A lot of those tear-jerking moments are because it’s real—it was real for me in those scenes. And I really went there by thinking along those lines.”
Young Melody Hurd made it easy for Hart to go all-in. “She was so good, and our chemistry on camera and off, it just kept getting stronger and stronger because we spent a lot of time together,” he says. Hart is glad he took a risk with the role. “I can say confidently this is my best performance on screen in my career. This is half a pound the best work as an actor that I’ve done thus far,” he beams.
Fatherhood premiered on Netflix on June 18th, just in time for Father’s Day.
What’s Next for Kevin
Currently, Hart’s actual daughter is interning for him while on a shoot in Budapest, Hungary for the Lionsgate film Borderlands. The science fiction action comedy is based on a video game series of the same name. Hart trained with Navy Seals to prepare for the role of a soldier named Roland, and his co-stars include Cate Blanchet, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jack Black.
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