Tim Griffin On ‘Central Intelligence,’ Working With Kevin Hart & The Rock [Video Exclusive]

Tim Griffin stars alongside Kevin Hart and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the new action comedy Central Intelligence.

Tim Griffin Video On Central Intelligence

Central Intelligence features Hart as a high school big man on campus-turned-office monkey and Johnson as a bullied overweight kid, who becomes a ripped CIA agent. Hart’s Calvin, who was kind to Johnson’s Bob back in the day, is stunned to see the man he’s become. Caught up in the surprising reunion, he ends up getting roped into the dangerous role of being Bob’s right-hand man.

“[Calvin] gets this friend request from [Bob], who in high school would’ve been like, ‘I need to make myself feel better about my life, I’ll go have a drink with this guy, this loser.’ And he shows up and it’s The Rock,” explained Griffin. “And they have a great night out, a great night drinking and then come to find out, we come knocking on his door. Me and Amy Ryan the next day go, ‘Have you seen this man?’ — because he’s like the world’s most dangerous fugitive. He’s a CIA operative gone rogue.”

Right now, Hart is arguably the biggest comedy actor around while Johnson is the most in-demand action star. Working with the two men left Griffin in a state of awe of Hart’s effortless comedic chops and how well the “gentle giant” title fits The Rock.

“You hear Arnold Schwarzenegger is huge, but when you meet him he’s a regular sized dude, or everyone knows Tom Cruise is in lifts or whatever. But [Dwayne] is literally like a mountain, in Game of Thrones, he’s like The Mountain,” Griffin said of Johnson. “He couldn’t be nicer and thank god that he was hard wired with some sort of laid back, Hawaiian, Polynesian…or otherwise humanity would be in big trouble. He’s so funny and he’s so generous and he’s also the busiest man alive.”

And Hart? “I can’t even describe how funny Kevin Hart in particular is. I think he might be the funniest man alive,” said Griffin. “I’m supposed to be the straight man in this one, where like between Amy Ryan and I we’re never supposed to crack a smile, and I must have bitten my cheek — I think I actually bore a hole in my cheek sometimes when Kevin Hart would go on a rant and Dwayne too.”

For Griffin, who plays one of the CIA Agents in the film, his favorite day on the set of Central Intelligence was when he got to turn the tables on Hart, becoming the one to make him break character and let out an unscripted laugh while the cameras were rolling.

“My proudest day was when I returned the favor. I was supposed to be showing him something…. I don’t know what they went with in the movie, but anything that would be inappropriate to show,” Griffin explained. “They would be like, ‘Okay, we’re not gonna tell you what it is, then boom it’s Grindr and then I have to go on my own improv rant about like, ‘Marcy and I are having problems,’ or whatever. And I watched Kevin Hart start to lose it because he’s sitting there judging me like, ‘Oh you got personal problems,’ but he started to break down. It was one of my favorite days.”

Central Intelligence hits theaters Friday, June 17.