Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors To Star In Netflix’s All-Black Western, Produced By Jay-Z
Netflix has announced that Idris Elba has joined rising star Jonathan Majors in The Harder They Fall, the streaming giant’s upcoming film produced by Jay-Z.
The film is the directorial debut for Jeymes Samuel, who worked with Jay-Z on The Great Gatsby soundtrack under his pseudonym The Bullitts. Samuel will keep his connection to Jay-Z since the rapper will produce the film with Samuel alongside Lawrence Bender and James Lassiter
When it was first announced, film details were unknown, but they were revealed this week with Elba’s casting. Majors will play Nat Love, an outlaw who goes on a journey of revenge once he finds out the man who killed his parents 20 years ago (Elba) is about to be released from prison. Love reunites his gang to track down the killer.
Coincidentally, Elba just wrapped another Western flick, Concrete Cowboys, loosely based on a book penned by author Greg Neri titled Ghetto Cowboy. Actors Caleb McLaughlin, Jharrel Jerome, Byron Bowers, and Lorraine Toussaint star alongside Elba in the film. The film is being produced by Elba’s production company Green Door Pictures, Tucker Tooley Entertainment, and Lee Daniels Entertainment.
Concrete Cowboys is centered on the Fletcher Street Stables. Fletcher Street is a Black horsemanship community in Philadelphia that has been in existence for over a century. It was cultivated as an outlet to help Black men and boys escape communities plagued by violence and crime and learn about the importance of discipline and responsibility. The film follows the journey of a teen who was sent to live with his father in North Philly. While adjusting to the new environment and bearing witness to the impact of gentrification and poverty, the teen discovers the community’s urban cowboy culture and explores how horse riding is used to escape the dire circumstances faced by those in the neighborhood.
One of the busiest, most rising stars in Hollywood, Majors, will be seen next in Misha Green and Jordan Peele’s HBO series, Lovecraft Country. The cast includes Aunjanue Ellis, Wunmi Mosaku, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Courtney B. Vance and Michael Kenneth Williams. Among his several other projects, he has also wrapped filming for Spike Lee’s 2020 feature offering Da 5 Bloods with Chadwick Boseman and Delroy Lindo. That film will also be on Netflix.