Kevin Hart, Will Packer and their companies HartBeat Productions and Will Packer Media have long collaborated on some of the most successful movies ranging from the Think Like a Man franchise to the Ride Along films and even Night School. But now for the first time they are really diving beyond film and into television as well with their new crime drama mini TV series, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist on Peacock. That is an eight part miniseries based on some of the infamous real life events of the 1970 post fight party that an armed robbery occurred after Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta. Which played a huge part in making the city the “Black Mecca” it is today. The series itself featuring a star-studded cast that ranges from everyone from Hart to Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, Terrence Howard and even David Banner. As we get towards the end of the series which started airing on Sept. 5th and airs every Thursday on Peacock till its conclusive finale episode on Oct. 10th. I recently got a chance to talk with Banner about not only the show and his role as Missouri Slim, but what it was like to work on such a great period piece that tells the history of Black and Hip-Hop culture that we are not taught about. But play a key role in what certain cities like Atlanta are today and what some other things we can expect from Banner and his acting in the near future.
Nello Rubio for TheHipHopDemocrat.com: Hey David, how are you?
David Banner: I am awesome, strong.
Nello: You are one of the co-stars for Kevin Hart’s new miniseries, Fight Night on Peacock that’s loosely based on the heist of the party that happened after Muhammad Ali’s comeback fight in 1970. Some of the characters are based off real people while some others are more fictionalized. The character you play, Missouri Slim, is one of the fictionalized characters. You have actually worked with Kevin a few times before. What was it like working with him again?
David: Brother it was actually amazing. And it inspired me not just as an actor, but just as a human in general. Because he has so much comedic swag, cause he has such a boisterous personality. I don’t think we have a chance to really see how hard Kevin Hart works. You know if you look at his physicality with him wanting and really moving into action movies. And all of that kind of stuff. We don’t really see that he has to workout at 4am no matter what time he gets off work. We don’t see the dialect coaches. We don’t see the fact that he barely ever misses a line. But at the same time he is on a comedy tour. He has four or five shows. His attention to detail. For him to have the ability to still see the bright points in life and keep the whole set laughing. Well he is still learning his lines and still doing his job. And he is a dad who has a family at home. So he is constantly on FaceTime. I am watching this man do all of this cause people didn’t know I was filming another TV show at the same time I was shooting Fight Night and that was a heavy load. I was running from Atlanta to New Orleans. To L.A. Back and forth. On my birthday I worked from 10 in the morning to almost 11 o’clock at night cause people don’t notice the makeup and the hair and all those attentions to detail. As it pertains to being a period piece. And I left set went and got a script in California at like 10:30, 11:30 the next day. And stayed there till 8 o’clock at night. So to watch Kevin do that and be able to give some of the best performances in the TV series and I just thought his company is helping to produce it along with Will Packer. You look at him having to be a business man and look at those types of things. It was very inspirational.
Nello: It’s a perfect segue you brought up Will Packer. You have actually worked with him a few times too as well. What is it like working with him?
David: One of the things that I can say about Will Packer that I haven’t seen with any business man. At least in the movie sector. Or the television sector. Is his connectivity with culture. Will Packer is one of the few people that have come out of the sky and DJed and it be the release parties or any party. Will Packer is one of the few people to accrued the things he has been able to accrued, but still be human. And I think that gives him opportunity to tap into culture in a way that most people on his executive level. They don’t have the ability to do it even if they wanted to do it and I don’t think most of them want to do it. And I think that is why he is able to keep his finger on the pulse. Of he knows what people want. He is able to not only tap into it, but be apart of it. He hasn’t removed himself. So for me I think he is able to give a perspective or is willing to give a perspective that most people on his level are not able to do. And that is the reason why I believe Will Packer will continue to be successful.
Nello: As I mentioned before the cast is a pretty big cast that includes yourself, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Terrence Howard. What was it like working with all those different people in the cast? And especially I want to hear even more so I want to hear with Samuel L. Cause the story goes that he was actually at the fight the night that the events happened.
David: And let me say something cause I know America is going to focus on the bigger stars and I am going to speak on that. But I would just like to say the young actors that they put together they brought it. Some actors and actresses I never saw before they brought their A game. And I think it’s also a testament to Samuel L. Jackson, a Terrence Howard or Taraji, Kevin Hart. To be willing to give themselves and be apart of something where other actors can learn from them. Because let me tell y’all. Terrence, Taraji, Samuel L. Jackson. There was a night where Samuel L. Jackson almost shut the whole TV show down. His performance was so powerful. Like I had to literally walk off set. It shook me and I think to be able to put certain ingredients in a pot together. It creates an alchemy everyday when you come on set and I will say. Taraji is one of the most fierce competitors, male or female that I have ever come in contact with. Terrence Howard has a sedulity I haven’t seen in many actors. That transcends what words can communicate to you. It’s his eyes. It’s his presence. I think it’s his life experiences. Like you said Samuel L. Jackson was there. It is hard for you to debate with or be able to bring an authenticity to acting the way that Sam has. Just because cause he say it. He is not acting. He embodies that in everything that he does and so I just like to say when it comes to anybody on the set. Samuel L. Jackson personally has helped me in my life way past Fight Night and I am so grateful to him. He is the person that I look to. I don’t really care what many people think about me or what I say or how I do. I continue to move. I am a very focused person. But Samuel L. Jackson is one of the few people on this planet that I care what he thinks. I will call him all the time to ask him, ‘Hey how do you think I am doing, man?’ And he has really taken out of his personal time to make sure I reach my goals. And he was one of the people that told us on set that his wife’s family stayed not to far from where, ‘Chicken Man’ stayed in real life. And I would like to add this to the pot. Will Packer had the foresight to actually take Chicken Man’s daughter is actually in this series. For real. So he surrounded us with some things that really helped us pull from the universe that made this series so authentic. That I hope more than anything it makes the city of Atlanta proud. Because this is a story that needed to be heard.
Nello: Speaking of Atlanta. You being from the South yourself. Is that something that made you want to take this role even more?
David: I can’t lie to you. Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, Will Packer. Chloe Bailey and all of these different people. I would like to give you the answer that feels good. But there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to not be apart of this one with all of these heavy hitters. It is really like being a competitor bro. You want to compete with the best. Like sometimes how you used to look at Jordan or Magic Johnson. I will give you an example. Magic Johnson wanted the Celtics to win so he could compete with who he thought was the best. The people who drove him to be the greatest. I am hearing whispers of people saying I had an amazing performance. But I had an amazing performance because I was in the ring with some of the best people in the world that do this. So I just gotta be honest with you. This cast itself. I don’t think we have seen this as it pertains to black people since Harlem Nights. And we can’t miss this opportunity. We can’t blow by this like this is just a regular TV show. This is special. You gotta think of what is in line of history of what happened that night. The characters who are involved in real life. This is part of what helped Atlanta grow into what it is. It was things like this. Happenings like this that people hide in history. So to have that in line with these stars. With Will Packer has been able to accomplish with his company along with Kevin Hart and what Kevin Hart is doing at maybe the apex of his career. And it happening right at the inception of Peacock. You know we gotta think about what that is going to become. So for all of these things to come together at one time. There was no way in hell I wasn’t going to be apart of this. Cause like I said I was actually signed onto another TV show that I was the star of. Look out for, Family Business: New Orleans, is coming soon. But when this opportunity came up and I got the call. I had to be apart of it.
Nello: I thought your performance in the show was really good and I agree it’s easily one of the best performances I’ve seen out of your acting so far. Was there anyone personally you knew that inspired you to dig more deeper into your character?
David: No, to be honest with you. I dig deep into every character that I possibly can. The only problem is sometimes when I get some of these roles. I don’t have really long to dive into them. Warner Loughlin, is my acting coach and her method is that we have to grab a character from the age of four and do the backstory all the way up till when we see them on paper. So when I have the time you know I have almost written a book of back stories when it comes to my characters. So there’s not much that would make me want to give one character more than I would give another. And the only thing that limits me is time. And also whatever else is going on in my life. I am being personal here. I really can’t wait until I have the opportunity to totally just focus on a character. Where I don’t have another movie going on and where there is enough money involved that it would make me comfortable enough to know that I could just focus on one thing. I can’t wait to do that Star Wars role. You know where I can maybe be engulfed in this character for a year. Or to be a superhero. Enough money is in where I can make sure that all my companies are straight. And I can just focus and engulf myself in the environment. You know I am the type of actor that I just played a God in a movie. I just walked up and showed on set two to three hours early and just walked around the environment we were shooting in. Just soaked in the environment so it can be natural. Not just from a performance standpoint, but you know sometimes we play characters that lived or where supposed to live in these one areas their whole life. So there has to be a kinship to the environment. And I not only want to be true to the character, but the environment also. So you know for this I enjoyed it because whether we admit it or not. This was a part of my life or is apart of my life. So the fact that I love this period in history. Me and my friends laugh about it all the time. Uptown Saturday Night is one of my favorite films of all-time and in that film. Madame Zenobia’s. The robbery of Madame Zenobia’s that is what Fight Night was based on. They took that scene from Atlanta. Since I love it so much it was a little bit easier for me because I wanted to study. You know that is how I feel about these children. If we can get all the hours these children put in on video games. That is really practice, but they don’t look at as practice cause it’s something they love. I love acting. I love black people. All the sedulity’s about my people. I love it. So studying for this role wasn’t something that was hard. It wasn’t work. It was fun. It was like playing a video game.
Nello: You mentioned how the show also brings about different parts of history in not only Black culture, but Hip-Hop culture in general. That we don’t see, know or hear about as much as we should. Do you think the success of the show is going to be able to help us bring more stories like this even more to the forefront?
David: Yes it is. I think from just about every aspect. You know my company is, A Banner Vision, and I want to focus on science fiction. And the more successful I am of course the more successful, A Banner Vision, will happen to be. Just because I run the, A Banner Vision. But you know the thing also is Hollywood has a tendency of milking anything that is successful. So the more successful black films are. The more successful Will Packer is. The more successful that Kevin Hart is. All of these people. The more that we are able to bring the stories and have control of the stories or the narrative and the more that we make our narrative hot. The more we make our narrative financially feasible or financially successful. People will want to duplicate it and the thing I like about Fight Night that is different. Is that it is really well written and the attention to detail. The money they put into the hair to the wardrobe to the cars. I have to be honest. There was a moment when we were in the basement. Where I looked at all those black faces and it felt like we had warped into the 70’s. Like it was spiritual. It was so many beautiful black people and we looked just like our parents. The only difference is the hairstyles and the clothes. But once we tap into that we break the molecules and we break the DNA open. And we are our parents and our great great grandparent’s and all of these subtle things and subtle acts. That are included in acting to help break it open. So I really do believe this will help.
Nello: Finally one last question. With this role and how much you were able to give to it. Is there any other upcoming roles you have coming up that we can look forward to?
David: I am staring in this film called, Before I Go. I actually play a God in this film and I am very excited about it because I really only want to do Sci-fi and action films moving forward. That is very important to me and will be my focus for my company, A Banner Vision. I called to the universe to allow me to physically be able to run and jump like I need to. You know in order to get these parts and to really be able to have the clearness and presence of mind cause now it goes from only having to learn only two or three lines. Four or five lines to me now having to memorize two, three or four pages. So that clarity and ability to be present is important. I am also staring in a BET series called, Family Business: New Orleans. Where I am the main antagonist. I am really excited about that. Maybe the next time we talk. I really want to talk about the mental health aspect and how playing Missouri Slim in Fight Night and me playing Jean LeBlanc in Family Business: New Orleans. Actually helped me through some really heavy and hard times. Because the strength in those two characters when I wasn’t feeling strong enough in my personal life. I actually drew from those two characters in some ways and acted like them until I was able to find the strength in my own spirit and in my own life. So Family Business: New Orleans and Before I Go. Coming real soon and I am really proud of both of them. So I wouldn’t lose stem from Missouri Slim in Fight Night before people see me again and I am grateful.