Kevin Hart – Picture: Getty Images
As part of Kevin Hart’s continued output onto Netflix, the streamer has acquired a spec script called Lift and will produce a film with Hart leading the cast. The movie will be a heist comedy, based on what has been revealed so far. Here’s our ongoing preview for everything we know about Kevin Hart’s upcoming Netflix movie, Lift.
Netflix’s Lift will be helmed by F. Gary Gray, who is known for directing such films as Straight Outta Compton, The Italian Job, Men In Black: International, The Negotiator, Set it Off as well as many music videos with various artists. The script for Lift was written by Daniel Kunka.
F. Gary Gray
The movie has also many big-name producers enlisted. Lift is produced by Simon Kinberg and Audrey Chon for Genre Pictures, Matt Reeves and Adam Kassan for 6th & Idaho, and Hart and Brian Smiley for HartBeat Productions.
Netflix has overall deals with both HartBeat Productions and 6th & Idaho.
Here’s everything else we know about Netflix’s Lift:
What’s the plot of Lift?
Beyond the logline provided by Netflix, the plot has mostly been kept under wraps. Here’s the official logline provided by Netflix:
Kevin Hart will play a master thief who is wooed by his ex-girlfriend and the FBI to pull off an impossible heist with his international crew on a 777 flying from London to Zurich.
Who is cast in Lift?
As of October 2021, only Kevin Hart is known to be among the cast of Netflix’s Lift. Balancing between his comedian career and acting career, Hart has recently starred in Jumanji and its sequels alongside Dwayne Johnson.
Kevin Hart notably signed a deal with Netflix back in January 2021 (which was compared in terms of scale to the Adam Sandler deals) to produce four exclusive films for Netflix via his production company, HartBeat.
You can find multiple titles on Netflix with Kevin Hart front and center in anticipation of Lift. That includes his two stand-up specials, his kids series Guide to Black History, and the excellent movie Fatherhood which was released on Netflix over the summer of 2021.
What’s the production status of Lift?
Netflix’s Lift is currently scheduled to begin filming in February 2022 and will primarily take place in Northern Ireland according to a production listing from ProductionWeekly.
Additional filming is expected to take place in London and France.
BelfastLive confirmed in March that filming was taking place in Belfast. According to the report, Hart also performed at a local comedy club in early March 2022 while filming.
As for where they’re filming in Belfast, the local site says:
“Production was taking place outside the landmark Great Victoria Street pub The Crown Liquor Saloon, with Harte spotted walking from the nearby Europa Hotel.”
Additional production listings confirm that the majority of the filming is taking place at Belfast’s Harbour Studios which is also where Netflix’s The School for Good and Evil was filmed.
Lift film set – Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire
Kevin Hart on set of Netflix’s Lift – Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire
Kevin Hart filming pic.twitter.com/jI5Yxy8603
— Mark McKillen (@MarkMcKillen) March 28, 2022
What’s the Netflix release date for Lift?
Netflix hasn’t set a release date for Lift, but it would be reasonable to expect a late 2022 or early 2023 release date.