Because Ride Along is an action-comedy, the director and crew had a lot of wiggle-room to make over-the-top stunts. Shares producer Will Packer: “We had an opportunity to do some really cool driving sequences. We had guns going off and blew up a building. Even Kevin got a kick out of being able to shoot big guns.”
But, according to Packer, sometimes Hart pulled back. He laughs: “Kevin was so excited about it. He wanted to do all of his own stunts until it was actually time to do the stunts. Kevin is the guy who says, ‘I’ll do my own stunts. I’m ready, let’s go!’ Then, when we told him, ‘Kevin, we need you to jump form this car to this car, flip over and land on the ground,’ he’d say, ‘Oh, I’m not doing that. You are going to need a stuntman, because I am not doing that.’ That is a Kevin Hart quote!”
Star Ice Cube says the level of action plays an important role in the development of the film’s story, right from the very first scene. Of his character James’ stunts he says, “You have to build up the character as a guy who will do whatever it takes to get the job done. It just sets it up for everything that’s going to happen in the movie.”
There’s so much action in the film that even the experienced director, Tim Story, was challenged. “I must admit, I’ve never blown up an entire building. I’ve [only] done it in CG, so I looked forward to fire and pyrotechnics. There’s only one reason to do this stuff — if you do it big. So we set the entire place on fire.”
Tika Sumpter, who plays Angela, made sure the boys weren’t the only cast members getting in on the action, so to speak. She laughs: “I get to kick a little butt. I did some stunts and really enjoyed the process.” Fellow cast member John Leguizamo agrees. “I did a little of everything. When I worked on stunts, I was able to go to the shooting gallery using guns. We all had to be on the ball with this flick.”
Ride Along is available starting April 15 on Video On Demand. Check your cable system for availability.