THE HARDER THEY FALL - JONATHAN MAJORS, ZAZIE BEETZ and JEYMES SAMUEL INTERVIEWS

One of the coolest Westerns you’ll ever see is now streaming on Netflix.

The Harder They Fall is a 2021 American Western film directed by Jeymes Samuel, who co-wrote the screenplay with Boaz Yakin. The film stars Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Regina King, Delroy Lindo, Lakeith Stanfield, RJ Cyler, Danielle Deadwyler, Edi Gathegi, and Deon Cole. It is one of very few Westerns whose principal cast members are all African-American. Although a fictional film, its characters are based on real cowboys, lawmen and outlaws of the 19th-century American West.

The story begins with a family’s Sunday dinner interrupted by a major ambush and murder. Many years later, the young boy whose parents were gunned down in front of him has grown up into an outlaw named Nat Love, played by Jonathan Majors. Nat’s gang — whose most valuable players are a sharpshooter (Edi Gathegi) and a quick-draw specialist (RJ Cyler) — specializes in stealing from other outlaw bands. But that’s just business. The personal concerns that propel Nate and the plot are his love for Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz) and his vendetta against Rufus Buck (Idris Elba).

Mary is a singer and entrepreneur with impressive fighting skills. Rufus resembles a villain out of fantasy or science fiction — a nearly superhuman avatar of evil with grandiose ambitions and a grudge against the universe. And also the charisma of Elba, unmatched at playing bad guys with a touch of sadness to them. Rufus’s crew is a mirror-image of Nate’s, though his empire is more extensive. His sharpshooter, Cherokee Bill (Lakeith Stanfield), is a philosophical sociopath, and his main lieutenant is a ruthless killer named Trudy Smith.

The film has style and kick-ass soundtrack and it’s just plain fun to see so many of these stars in this genre.

I spoke with two of the stars, Jonathan Majors & Zazie Beetz and the film’s writer director Jeymes Samuel about the Wild west.

You can watch all of the interviews in the playlist below: