Kevin Hart’s new film Fatherhood premiered on Netflix Friday (June 18 ). In a recent interview with The Grio, Hart discussed how the film allowed him to portray a loving Black dad.
“[It] gave me an opportunity to be a Black father on a big screen in a good light and a light that we’re rarely shown on screen, Hart told the outlet. “This was one where it was positive. It was one where it was loving and hopefully inspiring and motivating to other fathers out there to really embrace the importance of fatherhood and to take our roles serious and understand the true value that our roles have.”
The Paul Weitz directed film is based on the book “Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love” by Matthew Logelin. Hart plays a single Black father who is forced to raise his daughter alone after losing his wife during childbirth.
In an interview with KARE 11, Logelin expressed his approval of Hart portraying the main character in his book. “Hollywood finally had the foresight to say we are not just going to make this story about a white guy,” Logelin said. “It doesn’t matter that this was experienced by a white guy in a white family, this is experienced by a lot of other people.”
Hart made some changes to the character but mentioned that he wanted to “stay true to Logelin’s story.” “I’ve got to make sure that we pay your real story the proper attention, the tribute that it should get,” he told the Grio. “Like, we need to be as close to real as possible by making the tweaks and not making the tweaks come off about race. But your story, your love, your want and need for survival, and for your daughter’s opportunity and future, that’s what we got to make sure is clear. And we did a great job of that.”
“There’s a lot of messages that people are going to be able to take away from this film,” Hart continued. “Hopefully, it’s eye-opening to so many in ways to find solution and not focus on a problem, which I think is a big thing in today’s time.”
On Saturday (June 19), Hart thanked fans for making Fatherhood the No. 1 film on Netflix. “All I can say is I love you guys,” Hart wrote. “Thank you for riding with me & thank you for the love & support over the years….This is amazing. I busted my ass on this project because I wanted to do everything in my power to nail this performance….This was a really important movie for me ….I knew I had this in me…I was just waiting for the right project to come along so that I could put it on display. Fatherhood was the perfect project. Once again thank you guys!!!!!”
Check out the official trailer below: