Straight Out of Compton director F. Gary Gray is now in the Netflix streaming business with his newest heist film Lift. He’s no stranger to the genre. If you recall he directed a successful ensemble action heist film you may have seen called The Italian Job. Yes, that one.
His new film starring Kevin Hart follows a team of criminals who are experienced in their craft as they “lift” 500 million in gold.
As reported by Blavity’s Shadow and Act, Hart said “Cyrus, I would say, is two steps ahead at all times.” He spoke about his character, who must lead the charge with a group of experienced crooks. Hart Hart, a Hollywood heavyweight, is also an executive producer in the film.
Hart added, “He’s a well-thought-out individual and every idea is attached to the bigger idea,” then said of his director, “F. Gary Gray did a great job of creating a line that we felt Cyrus should be operating off of and every time that I basically went outside that line or put myself in a position to not be on par with what the line was. We had great conversations and understanding attached to that. He did a great job of just keeping me balanced with the performance of Cyrus.”
Spoiler alert … Aside from the big plan to lift half a billion in gold, Cyrus is once again alongside his former lover, Abby, played by the talented Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
Mbatha-Raw was excited to be the leading lady of the ensemble film and gave a glimpse of her experience. “This cast has just been a joy to be around,” she said. “I mean, [being] led by Kevin and his energy and humor and wit, but I think it is so well-cast when you’re part of an ensemble where everybody is from different countries [and] from different cultures. Everybody’s bringing a different energy, but also coming up with their own thing that really lifts you up.”
“I loved filming in Italy, that’s like one of my favorite things…filming in Venice,” she said. “All the scenes that we had in St. Mark’s Square on the boats and just being up in the Dolomite mountains. These breathtaking locations were really cool and just give you sort of a sense of the scope and scale of this movie. It really has a global scope to it.”
The role of Camila, played by Úrsula Corberó, who is responsible for flying the aircraft around the heist, added her feelings of unity amongst the cast that played out onscreen.
“I love them all,” said Corbero, and added “I honestly think they’re the best and [being] also, to share with people from these different cultures, [who speak] different languages, and [bring] different energies and vibes… it’s been such a pleasure. I was crying on the last day because we were leaving.”
Lift is currently soaring high on Netflix.
