Kevin Hart and John Cena are set to share the screen once again, this time in The Leading Man, a Netflix action comedy based on the comic book series by Jeremy Haun and B. Clay Moore. The pair will also be working behind the scenes as producers.
Plot and production
The story puts Cena in the role of a self-absorbed movie star who gets an unwelcome reality check when he discovers his on-screen “man in the chair” (Hart) is actually an undercover agent. With an actual crisis unfolding, the pampered actor has to swap staged heroics for the real thing — and figure out how to save the world without a stunt double.
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Deadline broke the news, reporting that the screenplay adaptation is coming from Jon and Erich Hoeber, whose credits include Red, The Meg, and My Spy. The Hoebers are returning to Netflix after selling the streamer their original script Fast & Loose. That one, an action comedy set to star Will Smith, is currently looking for a new director following the departure of Michael Bay.
This isn’t the first attempt to bring The Leading Man to the screen. Universal Pictures bought the rights to adapt the comic in 2011 with Justin Lin (Fast & Furious 5) reportedly on board as director, but the project never went ahead.
Producers on the planned film include Luke Kelly-Clyne and Bryan Smiley for Hartbeat, Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum for RK Films, Eric Gitter and Peter Schwerin for Ignition Productions, along with Cena and Dan Baime.
Hart and Cena’s recent and upcoming work
This isn’t the first time Hart and Cena have teamed up. They previously worked together on Die Hart season two — also released as the feature Die Hart 2: Die Harter — with Cena joining the action-comedy series as a new character opposite Hart’s fictionalised version of himself.
Hart is also set to star in 72 Hours, an upcoming Netflix comedy directed by Tim Story, and has a string of other streamer credits, including Fatherhood, Me Time, The Man from Toronto, Lift, and the limited series True Story.
Cena’s recent credits include Amazon MGM’s Heads of State, which has drawn more than 75 million viewers worldwide since its July release. He’ll next appear in Peacemaker season two, the long-delayed Coyote vs. Acme, and Matchbox, a live-action adventure based on the toy brand.
