Samuel said that The Harder They Fall, which follows Nat Love (Majors) who seeks revenge for his parents’ murder after their murderer, Rufus Buck (Elba) is released from prison, fits “amazingly” into the broad western canon because of how it embraces the new, similar to how westerns of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s embraced new ideas. And so I would just buy books and would…uncover amazing characters–both heroes and villains, both men and women of all colors. I just grew up wanting to know more about people of color and women and all of these ideas of the Old West that I was not getting from the Hollywood movies. “I really, really loved westerns, but I would just see a really clear inconsistency with the portrayals of people of color, basically in the Old West and being such a fan of actors like Woody Strode, who was amazing in Spartacus but then you’ll see him pop up in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and he couldn’t get a drink in the bar. “I’ve been a follower of westerns since I was a child,” he said.
During a video call with Shadow And Act, Samuel said he has wanted to explore the world of the Western through the lens of Blackness, a lens not often used to showcase the American West’s history. The irony is that the Old West has always been home to bigger-than-life Black heroes, such as the real Lone Ranger, Bass Reeves. Between Regina King, Delroy Lindo and LaKeith Stanfield, who are all fresh from the 2020-2021 awards season for One Night in Miami, Da 5 Bloods and Judas and the Black Messiah, respectively, Marvel stars Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, and Zazie Beetz, For All Mankind star Edi Gathegi and Power Rangers star RJ Cyler, the Old West is once again the new cinematic playground for bigger-than-life characters. Jeymes Samuel has assembled a cast of superhero proportions for his upcoming Netflix film, The Harder They Fall.
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