Alan Akrin and Kevin Hart Talk 'Grudge Match' and Why Actors Should Stay Out of Coffee Shops

In Grudge Match, the new boxing comedy opening Christmas Day and showing at our Gala Benefit on Monday (tickets still available), retired boxers Henry ‘Razor’ Sharp (Sylvester Stallone) and Billy ‘The Kid’ McDonnen (Robert De Niro) are brought back into the game to compete in a final fight, thirty years after their last match.

Along for the ride is comedian Kevin Hart, who plays fast talking boxing promoter Dante Slate, Jr., a man who instantly sees dollars signs after coaxing the two athletes out of their respite. Rounding out the cast is veteran actor Alan Arkin as Louis ‘Lightning’ Conlon, Stallone’s former trainer who is literally brought out of the retirement home to get Stallone back into fighting shape.

Arkin and Hart only share a few scenes in the film, but when they’re both on screen it’s nonstop hilarity.

We had a chance to sit down with the duo and chat about working together, and how important it is to wear multiple hats when building a career in the film industry.

You both share a lot of comedic scenes together in this film. How was it working together?

Alan Arkin: It’s a funny thing, we don’t actually.

Kevin Hart:  There’s not that many.

Arkin: But it’s like what happened in Argo with me and John Goodman. He and I are on screen for about thirty seconds, and they made us a comedy team.

Hart: We’re in like three scenes together, but they’re funny, they’re funny scenes.

Arkin: Great scenes.

They’re very memorable.

Arkin: You know why they’re great? The eye rolling I do at his endlessly long monologues.  He goes on, he goes on, he goes on, talks for twenty minutes and I go WHOOO.

Hart: Do your reaction again!

Arkin: HA! HA!  Yeah, HA!

How much improv was involved between the two of you?

Hart: For me? Tons. Alan stuck to the script: “Where’s he at? When’s he going to finish?” Then he’d give his famous, “HA!” Naw, lots of fun man, we had a lot of fun.

Now Alan, you got started in comedy with the The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming, what was it about comedy—

Arkin: Now wait a minute, that was my first movie. I never planned on being a comedic actor. I didn’t know how to do comedy until I got to Second City. I thought they were going to fire me because I wasn’t funny for about a month. Then all of sudden I found a character who was funny, and I started to learn a little bit at a time about how to be funny. It wasn’t the way I thought of myself initially. It just so happened that The Russians are Coming… was my first movie and it was a comedy. Two movies after that I was doing Wait Until Dark, where I played a heavy.

I was just going to say, you’ve done everything since.

Alan: I’ve done everything! Now I’ve finally learned how to work with Kevin Hart, so I’ve really done everything.

Kevin, you started with standup comedy, how was that transition into acting?

Standup comedy is a different world. That’s my world. I’m who I am, people pay to see me because they like me. In acting you get to be who you want to be for that particular role. What character are you making up? What take are you doing? And it’s fun. It’s always fun taking on personalities that are different. Somewhat crazy too, because I think that’s where the crazy side of people comes in. But, I still bring that standup realm to my acting side, of just being quick on my feet.

Alan: He’s doing his standup right now, he’s just doing it slower and quieter.

Hart: This is actual material right now.

Is it harder to bring the standup into the acting?

No. No no no, it’s very easy for me. I’m not a trained thespian, I didn’t go to school for it. I’m a guy who’s picked up as I went on, from learning from (gestures towards Alan Arkin) my company, learning from other people I’ve been around. So, I’ve taken my classes as I worked, by being around great people.

Arkin: He doesn’t need to learn from anybody. He was like a whirlwind on set. He came on, and I just had to hang on to his coattails, and make a face every once and a while.

Hart: (Imitating Alan) HA!

That’s true!

Now, you’re both Jacks-of-all-Trades. Alan, you’ve directed, you’ve done stage direction as well, and you’ve written books. Kevin, you have your own production company (Hartbeat Productions), you’re the executive producer of a TV show, co-creator and star of it (The Real Husbands of Beverly Hills). How important is that to do sort of everything in this business?

Arkin: For me, it’s crucial to have other interests so I don’t end up doing crap movies because I’m bored with my life. Period. I see people doing movies, I go, “What the hell are they doing? “ And I realize they didn’t get an offer they liked for six months, so they’re doing a piece of junk, and I feel like I’ve been able, in the past ten years anyway, to say I have a life I like. I do other things I like, and if a script comes along that I love, fine, if not, I’m not an actor then. That’s fine.

Hart: I think it’s about controlling your brand, especially in today’s time. That’s what is so important to me. I have a brand, and I like to be in charge of that brand, from production, to creating, just development overall. I think people don’t realize just how important it is to be productive outside of the acting world, because if that world stops, you still need to go. For me it’s just having a bunch of doors that I can open up, by myself, without the help of others. From standup, to producing, to writing, to directing, you know, whatever it may be, you create those avenues so you never stop when the world stops.

One of TFI's goals is helping out young filmmakers at the start of their careers. What sort of advice would you give to someone who’s just starting out in this business?

Arkin: Yeah, to me there’s only on route. You buy a camera and you start making videos with your friends, and you put them online. Don’t just sit there waiting for something to happen with stars in your eyes. And then if you got it, it will start showing up.

Hart: I’m a firm believer in, you can’t just say something. I think a lot of people just like to talk, so my advice is, don’t be a person who just talks: “I’m going to go…” “I’m about to…” “I’m thinking about…”

Arkin: Yeah, that’s a paraphrase for what I’m saying.  We’re saying the same thing.

Hart: It’s exactly that. Instead of talking about something, be active in doing what it is that you want to do. Literally start it, and have a vision, and execute it.

Is there anything you’d tell people not to do?

Hart: Anything not to do? I think you gotta do the dumb stuff too. That’s how you learn what not to do.

Yeah. I got something. Don’t, if you’re going to be an actor, don’t sit around a coffee shop for six hours a day reading the trades, talking to your friends about your auditions, because that’s death. That’s a living death. That is not being an actor. That’s being a coffee shop guy who’s going to die.

Hart: Cause people die in coffee shops! That’s what Alan is saying.

Arkin: That’s what I’m trying to say.

Death to those in coffee shops!  

Buy tickets to our Gala Benefit

(Photo: Alan Arkin (left) and Kevin Hart in Grudge Match)