Kevin Hart is having a great year. He has two films out this month: Think Like A Man and The Five-Year Engagement. The Source Magazine had the opportunity to sit down with Kevin during the press junket for his new film The Five-Year Engagement, in which he plays Doug a Ph.D student in Violet Barnes’ (Emily Blunt) class. He has some hilarious and memorable scenes in the film, which is now playing.
Q: What was it like working with Director Nicholas Stoller?
Kevin Hart: Unbelievable! Reason being I’ve known him for years! Just to see Nick get to the level of success that he has now is huge. I remember when Nick was a writer’s assistant, so we got about 10 years in the game of knowing each other, so to see him here now and then us all being in different points of our career and for us to have this much success is great.
Q: What was Nicholas a writer’s assitant on?
Kevin Hart: This is going back to Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared.
Q: Are there future projects with you and the Apatow group?
Kevin Hart: Of course! Well you know me and Seth [Rogen] are doing something right now and he’s in the Apatow group. We have a project that’s in development right now. Me and Nick are also talking about doing something, as well. We self-generate and that’s the beauty of the circle. Everybody knows how to be proactive and knows how to develop and get things moving, so we can do it together and keep it all in the family.
Q: In The Five-Year Engagement, you are attempting to get a Ph.D. So if you could get a doctorate in real life, what would you get it in?
Kevin Hart: It would probably have to be in communications. I can’t be that serious. I’m not a schooly at all. I went to community college for 2 weeks. I said, ‘Ah goodness I failed 1 pop quiz’ and said that isn’t it for me.
Q: You’re kind of the cool kid on the block right now.
Kevin Hart: It’s a great feeling. I have Think Like A Man, I have The Five-Year Engagement. It’s cool to be a topic. It’s cool to see your hard work pay off. This is a product of my hard work paying off for me. It’s a long time overdue. I got about 16 years in the business. These are the first of many. I don’t want to see this road end, so it’s about keeping this ball rolling. How do I keep it going? How do I keep the success happening? And the best way do it is to stay proactive. That’s why I’m so serious about my stand-up comedy and at the same time I’m big on my relationships…literally because of that success it’s put me in a much better mental place and I think now I want it more. Once you get a taste of something that’s so good, you want it to happen more often, so I’m excited for these projects to come out!
Q: You mentioned stand-up are you still doing it? When’s the next special?
Kevin Hart: I’m taping my next special actually in Madison Square Garden in November!
Q: is this your first time at The Garden?
Kevin Hart: Yes, this will be my first time performing at the garden. This one is in theaters. It’s like Laugh at my Pain, so same thing i did with ‘Laugh At My Pain,’ but this one will be called Let Me Explain.
Q: What is your next film project?
Kevin Hart: Next, I’m doing a movie called Cataclysm. It’s with Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Aziz Ansari, the list goes on and on. We’re taping this in New Orleans, so I’ll be out there for some time. After that, I’m supposed to be doing a move called Con Ed, after Con Ed, a movie that I’m self-producing called Quick and Easy through my company, then of course Let Me Explain, which is my next stand-up special. I’m still on Modern Family! I think my next episode airs May 1st and also a show on BET I’m producing Housewives of Bel-Air. We’re going to be making fun of the women shows: Basketball Wives of L.A., and Housewives of Atlanta, so we’re going to take all those catty moments that you see, recreate those and it’s gonna be fun!
The Five-Year Engagement kicked off the Tribeca Film Festival. Some of the notables in attendance included Amy Poehler, Robert De Niro, Grace Hightower, Judd Apatow, Jason Segel, Cuba Gooding Jr., Olivia Wilde, Emily Blunt, Michael Moore and Shaun White!
