If you want to make a new Jumanji adventure pop onto Hollywood's radar, you make sure to cast not just Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, but Kevin Hart, too. The combination of the world's biggest action star with the world's biggest comedy star is a killer, but it's just two parts of an ensemble cast led by director Jake Kasdan, hoping to recapture some of the spirit and adventure of Jumanji in a not-quite-sequel, definitely not a prequel, legacy-honoring follow-up Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. But Hart is making it clear from the beginning that even if this new film connects to the original Jumanji, they've set the bar high enough to ensure this story stands on its own.

While visiting the set, we had the chance to speak with the cast and crew, learning that a big secret from the first Jumanji will be revealed, the first confirmed Star Wars Easter Egg, and of course, how the comedic minds on set intend to honor Jumanji and its late star Robin Williams. But Hart drives home the point that the purpose of Welcome to the Jungle isn't to capitalize on what came before. No, the production spent too much time getting their own story and positive message in the perfect place to worry about repeating the previous film's moral.

What can you tell us about your character?

What can I tell you about my character... I play a small guy in a different world that's the complete opposite of the high school version of who this individual really is. But I think what's amazing is that who he is on one side is completely different from the person that he's forced to be on another side. With every movie that you do, you always want to make sure there's an inside message, something that people can walk away and take from the film. I think we put a lot of small innuendoes in here that people will be able to kind of wink at and understand and agree with. You want to switch up what you can. You want to be different and separate yourself from other things that have been done. I think in this case, we're doing so with all of the characters, including myself.

Are you having fun with Strength being your weakness?

I mean, so far so good. You've got to find different humor. With the small persona of 'Fridge,' that's one note, so we wanted to find different things. In this particular case, Fridge is a bully. My character's a bully in this world, he's forced to be a bully in a different statue. Without speed, without strength, a guy who's allergic to eating cake, it's a bunch of weird shit that we gave him, but it works, because we grounded it to where it made sense.

How are you enjoying bouncing off Jack Black?

Jack is great man. Jack is amazing.

Is there improv?

Yeah. They let us improv and they let us play. But you're looking at two polished, committed actors. So we don't take it too far off the page. When we do, it goes right back to the page, because it's a ping pong. You never take your person and put him in a place where it's so hard to bring him back to the material at hand. We both understand that. It's basically throwing alley-oops for each other where we can to help their characters win in a situation.

Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart in the jungle in Jumanji

With Dwayne, how is your chemistry similar to what you guys had already built together, and how do you go off in different directions?

Look, there's chemistry, plain and simple. We're good friends. We're both professionals. We're all about the project. How can we make the project better? It's not about us as individuals or what star stands out the most. It's about the movie. So for us, it was just getting the script right. How do we make the material right? Do our characters have an arc? Do our characters have a purpose? Do our characters have a reason to be rooted for or not rooted for? That's the depth that we go through.

When you have somebody that puts just as much time into a project off camera that they do on camera, it says a lot about that individual. In this case, it's something that we both did. We worked on the script for months before, and we got here two weeks before to do rehearsals, and more stuff just to make sure that the chemistry is there, and it is.

Were you a fan of the original movie?

Yeah. I'm a fan of Robin Williams. I think that's an important thing to bring up, because people think that this is a remake of the original Jumanji, and it's not. It's a continuation. You don't touch what's great and try to redo it. You just have to understand that there's a generation that has no idea what Jumanji is, and that's the generation of today, the social media generation, the younger generation. They don't know. So having that game and that world continue, but to fit this mold, it's a unique idea, and it's something that we felt that we could bring a lot of light to. So in no way, shape or form are we disrespecting, or reshaping, or reforming the original Jumanji. This has nothing to do. It's a continuation.

What's your stunt work like been?

Stunt work? So far, nothing. I think it starts actually tomorrow and next week. That's when I start running. It's a lot of running. A lot of running through the jungle. They put us in a real jungle, which is fun. It's bittersweet, but I don't complain. I love it. This is what I chose to do. So you lay in the bed that was made for you. This is it. Just a different environment than what I'm used to.

You mentioned working with The Rock and how you guys put a lot of time and effort into it. What is it like working with someone who's matching your intensity versus someone who isn't?

Umm... I mean when you say matching my intensity, I don't think that's fair, because there's different levels of intensity. There's different ways to approach a day. My approach is my approach. His approach is his approach. Jack's approach is his approach. Nick's approach is his approach, and Karen's is hers. You know? I think people focus differently. Some people need that push and that boost in a way that only they can define.

Mine is a 5am boost that I need to give myself so that I feel like I've got an advantage on myself. As long I feel like I'm working on me at all times, I'm happy. I think the day that I stop doing that is the day that I've lost sight of reality and what got me to where I am. But Dwayne does have an amazing approach to his life, to his day, to his career as well. You're just looking at two guys who just aren't content with where they are in their career.

Given the last year and the projects you've worked on, what have you learned most about yourself and your own ability as an actor?

I've grown. I'm 37 now. The more that you do, that more you mature, the more you understand the business, and... the more that you can do. I think now just from a production, from an actor, from a producer, writer, director standpoint, I just know all sides of the business. So there really isn't any room for error with me. I just think the biggest thing is just being educated on all aspects of the genre that you work in. Whatever it is that you do, if you know it inside and out, it's something that you can do forever. I think the best thing for me is just constantly going, constantly educating myself, to know more to do.

What was the biggest learning curve for this movie? What was the thing you had to put a little more energy into understanding?

You're playing characters, and playing characters, grounding these characters is what makes the movie good. It's not just about being funny. It's about you believing the world that we're creating. You hear a lot of people say, 'Oh, you're just funny, or you're just this, you're just that.' You have to look at the levels of funny. You have some levels that are louder than others. Some that are just played at a lower level. Some that may be reactive. Some are proactive. It's just different things that actually work for a film.

In this particular case, the movie doesn't work if it just looks like a bunch of craziness. If you have no substance-- you've got a substance but you don't believe the substance, you don't believe the individuals that are playing the characters at hand. You believe us, and you believe that the people that go from here to here are turning into the new versions of themselves for a positive reason.

Can you talk a little bit about working with Jake Kasdan, and how his approach differs from other directors you've worked with?

Jake has been around for a long time. Jake has been a writer in the business for so long. You're looking at a director that has successful movies and successful TV shows. So he's no stranger to being behind the camera, he knows what he's doing and he knows comedy. And more importantly, I think it's very dope to see somebody confident with a budget like this. It's a lot of pressure on his back. But every day he's smiling, and he's happy to be at work, and he's not pulling his hair out, and he knows that he has great talent around him, and great DPs and assistant directors. He put a nice team together. I think they all are collaborating in a way that's special, to where they can actually make something that people are going to love, and that will live on for years to come.

Are you excited about your kids seeing this movie?

My kids see every damn thing. Spoiled. Kids will probably see it, they'll come here and see it. They just love to see daddy do stuff. They're more excited about animation. When I do animation, my kids get happy. So Secret Life of Pets 2 and Captain Underpants, that's all they focus on. They don't care about this s***.

You mentioned how much time was spent to get the script right. Was it focused on the story of the film, the message? You spoke about the outside world or the inside world. It feels like there's a lot that you need to get right for what you're going for.

There's a lot of components. Studios are overprotective of information for absolutely no reason at all sometimes. I don't know why they don't want you all to know some stuff, I think it's stupid. But, the purpose of the script was to balance two different worlds, and balancing these worlds make you understand why being a certain way over here isn't right. And sometimes it takes taking a person out of their shell, and putting them in a different one for them to realize who they really are, and that's what we had to do in this case. Then when they go back to the world that they were in, after realizing how they had to make changes and adapt in a new shell, it makes them respect this shell that they are in, in a completely different realm. So I'm trying to teeter, because they asked us not to say certain things, but that's where all the work went on the script, was to make sure that there was a clear message, making sure that people will walk away and applaud what our attempt was.

What can you tell us about your avatar's costume?

I wanted to just be different. I wanted to stand out. Not come off like a clown, but come off as a person who embraced this world of the jungle. This Jumanji-esque world. You get why this guy's in there, from his backpack, to his short shorts, to all of the patches on his vest, and him having over 15 pockets, to having to answer for any and everything when it comes to the wild or when it comes to animals. That's the guy that you technically want to be with when you're in these situations, and you get why... his presence is felt. It's not just about being funny. It's about believing me. So the wardrobe definitely helped play a major part.

What I really love is my hat. My hat acts as like another version of my character. I'm tugging on the hat when I'm in disbelief, or the fact that I can't run, and I always revert back to the hat. You all got me in this stupid ass hat. It's just funny. It's just something else to have. The backpack is bigger than me, but we never mention it. It just goes without being said. It's a lot of cool quirks and things that I think people are really going to take away and love from it. All in all, I'm very fortunate, very lucky to be working with the cast that I'm working with. Very lucky to be doing a movie of this magnitude. I don't take it for granted. And I show up and give 110% every day. I think people are going to appreciate it at the end.

NEXT: How The New JUMANJI Connects To The Original

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