‘The Kitchen’ Star Tiffany Haddish Says She Was ‘Too Goofy’ To Be A Gangster

Las Vegas-- The film “The Kitchen” follows three women who find themselves taking over their mobster husband’s roles after their partners end up in prison. The movie, which takes place in 1978 Hell’s Kitchen New York, premiered its first trailer at CinemaCon’s Warner Bros. presentation on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Two of the film’s stars, Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Haddish, and director Andrea Berloff were on hand to deliver the footage and share their take on the film. (Fellow co-star Elizabeth Moss was not present at the event.)

“Just to be clear,” McCarthy says in the trailer. “Now, we run this neighborhood.”

Berloff, who is making her directorial debut, said she took on the project, which is based off a graphic novel, because it gave her the chance to portray women in a mafia movie “authentically.”

“Everyone knows kind of very strong woman in challenging positions but you don't often get to see that in film,” Melissa shared one of her reasons for taking on the film. “I would have been insane not to jump aboard.”

As for Haddish, she had different reasons for signing on. “For me, this was like a dream come true,” she told the audience. The normally comedic actress shared that she grew up around “gangster-type stuff” but that she was always denied because she was “too goofy.”

“I always tried to join the gangs, but they wouldn’t let me,” she quipped. “I’m a gangster chick deep down.”

“The Kitchen” releases in theaters on Aug. 9.

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