What's The True Story Behind Why Kevin Hart Wanted To Make Netflix's True Story?
This post contains spoilers for "True Story"
Kevin Hart is basically a human version of Netflix at this point, churning out projects and pumping the media ecosystem with as much of himself as possible. From his Peacock chat show "Hart to Heart" to his 2021 Netflix dramedy "Fatherhood"; his docuseries "Don't F*** This Up" to his stand-up specials, Hart has capitalized on his popularity to the extreme. He even popped up on "Talking Watches" in 2023, since evidently developing a taste for the finer things.
Somehow, the man also found time to make his television drama debut in 2021's "True Story." Arriving on Netflix in November 2021, "True Story" is a limited series in which Hart and Wesley Snipes play brothers, and is loosely based on the former's career as a stand-up comedian. Hart plays a version of himself named Kid, who kicks off a comedy tour in his native Philadelphia. At the show, he reconnects with his estranged older brother, Carlton (Snipes) and the pair spend the afterparty together, drinking and seemingly having a grand old time. Unfortunately, Kid blacks out during the festivities and wakes to find himself in bed with a woman who has, unfortunately, passed away.
From there, things spiral further out of control as Carlton repeatedly fails to fix the situation despite his constant reassurances that he's "got this." At one point, Kid even kills a guy after ranting about how everyone wants something from him, in a scene that feels as though Hart was indulging some sort of dark, post-success fantasy. Which, it turns out he kind of was.
Though "True Story" isn't exactly what its title might suggest, large parts of the show are based on Hart's own life. And it all started with the comedian deciding he wanted to kill someone on-screen ...
True Story borrows from Hart's real life
"True Story" is fiction that incorporates elements of Kevin Hart's real life. As the comedian, who's set to star in the upcoming "Monopoly" adaptation, explained on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in 2021, it started when he contacted "Narcos: Mexico" writer and producer Eric Newman and told him "I want to kill somebody. I want to do a TV show based around that." From there, the duo developed the show, folding in Hart's experiences as a comedian and celebrity.
Hart explained more during an appearance on "Live with Kelly and Ryan," saying:
"How do I best put myself in a position to be taken serious? I gave similarities within Kevin Hart and the character Kid, so there's a parallel life shape where he's a comedian, he's a mogul, that's how I get the audience to invest their time. And then, at that, it makes a dark turn and you realize that Kevin Hart is no more. Kid is the character that's being played."
Hart used elements of his experiences as a way to hook audiences, then. But besides both Hart and Kid being successful comedians from Philadelphia, there's also the fact that Hart really does have an older brother, Robert. In his documentary "Don't F*** This Up," Hart said of his brother, "Any mistakes that you could make as a teenager, [Robert] made. My brother was in a gang, he dealt drugs." The comedian also revealed that their mother had Robert legally emancipated. Much like the characters in "True Story" then, there was some distance between Hart and his more criminally-active brother. Unlike in the Netflix show, though, Robert and his mother, Nancy, reconciled and he and his brother have a much closer relationship than the one depicted in the miniseries.
The things we battle with
"True Story" obviously borrows from Kevin Hart's real life to spin a more outlandish fictional story. But on the "Kelly and Ryan" show the comedian spoke about there being "a mind melt of 'how much of this is really Kevin's life, did this happen did this not?'" In that sense, it seems he intended to keep the line between his real life and the fictionalized version somewhat hazy. As he told Colbert:
"This project is one that I took on because I just felt there was a side of me that needed to be shown. I think we all battle with things and I think the things we battle with sometimes we have a tough time of letting those things out. This was my way of letting those things out and putting them on display."
Just what this "side" of Hart constitutes remains unclear, but "True Story" certainly gives us the impression it's a lot darker than the funny-man persona he's known for. The scene where Kid strangles Billy Zane's Ari to death after talking about how everyone wants something from him is a good example. Hart's complaints about how "everybody gets to take from me" seem rooted in the inevitable struggles that come with fame and success. But the murder? We're pretty sure he stopped short of that in his real life. In this scene then, you have Hart expressing those very real "things we battle with" alongside a fictionalized event. And that pretty much sums up what the comedian was trying to do with "True Story."
Driven to desperate measures
Eric Newman, who also served as showrunner and writer of "True Story," provided some insights to the New York Times, revealing that when he and Kevin Hart were creating the show, the comedian wanted to play a version of himself who was "driven to desperate measures." And that's basically what "True Story represents. It's a thriller that borrows extensively from Hart's real life but also tells a fictional story — all with the goal of showcasing Hart's dramatic talents and allowing the star to explore those "things we battle with."
Did it make for the most compelling thriller? Not necessarily. "True Story" sits at an underwhelming 57% on Rotten Tomatoes and failed to create that much of an impact when it landed in 2021. But it was at least an interesting concept, and Hart himself did a solid job.
Though his 2017 drama "The Upside" wasn't met with the most favorable reviews, Hart held his own opposite Bryan Cranston, with some critics even singling out his performance as one of the film's highlights. Similarly, with "True Story," both Hart and Snipes were commended for their performances. But then, considering so much of the show was based on Hart's real experiences, the actor did have a lot to draw from. For now, there are plenty more upcoming Kevin Hart projects to look forward to.