Kevin Hart and the creators behind The Man From Toronto suffered what appeared to be a momentous setback when the film’s co-star, tireless action apostle Jason Statham, abruptly dropped out of the film just six weeks before it was set to shoot.
They quickly found a more-than-suitable replacement: inimitable three-time Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson, who brings an arguably more unsettling energy to the eponymous hitman, who is forced to team up with bumbling wannabe entrepreneur (Hart) after a case of mistaken identity.
The casting shift seems to have worked out for Hart, who was clearly affected by The Woody Harrelson Experience.
“Woody’s lifestyle, his approach to life, his way of living. There’s a sense of ease and [happiness] that a lot of people are searching for. And that only some find,” Hart tells us during a recent virtual press day for the film, where he was joined by Harrelson.
“There’s just a different level of happy just with life and with his appreciation for living… There’s just such a breath of fresh air, of genuine happy that you get from him at times during conversation. That’s the one thing that I took away from him… It’s rare that you come across a lot of those people, but he’s truly unique. He’s a one of one… I put him in a special place, as a friend… I’ve never met anybody like him.”
The appreciation is mutual.
“I was really surprised by his wisdom and his like, business acumen,” Harrelson says of Hart. I never thought of things the way he sees it. He really gets the whole picture.
“He taught me a lot.”
—Video produced by Jen Kucsak and edited by John Santo
The Man From Toronto is currently streaming on Netflix.
Watch the trailer:
