Netflix casts more Black stars to join Idris Elba in ‘The Harder They Fall’ Western

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Netflix will premiere a Western motion picture, The Harder They Fall, and it is set to feature more Black star power than previously announced.

Actors Jonathan Majors and Idris Elba were initially said to be cast in the production, which has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Shadow and Act now reports that more A-list Black talent has been cast in the forthcoming project.

Regina King, Delroy Lindo, LaKeith Stanfield and Zazie Beetz are among the newest additions to the film. Danielle Deadwyler and RJ Cyler have also been cast.

The Harder They Fall will follow outlaw Nat Love as he gathers his old gang together to seek revenge on a rival, Rufus Buck, after Buck gets released from prison.

Majors is set to portray Love, while Elba will play Buck.

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Nat Love was a real-life Black-American cowboy and former slave, known by his nickname “Deadwood Dick.” He was once portrayed by Ernie Hudson in the 1996 HBO Western/Comedy, The Cherokee Kid, starring Sinbad and Burt Reynolds.

King, an Oscar and three-time Emmy winner, just received another Emmy nod for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for HBO’s Watchmen.

Stanfield, known best for his roles in the Emmy-winning FX comedy series Atlanta and the films Get Out, Uncut Gems and Knives Out, will co-star in the upcoming Fred Hampton biopic Judas and The Black Messiah, opposite Get Out co-star and Oscar-nominee Daniel Kaluuya.

Stanfield’s Atlanta co-star Beetz most recently co-starred in Academy-Award winning 2019 film Joker, alongside Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix.

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Lindo, who has appeared in several hit films like Malcolm X, The Cider House Rules and Ransom, currently stars in Netflix’s Da 5 Bloods, directed by Spike Lee and starring recently-departed actor Chadwick Boseman.

The Harder They Fall will be directed, co-produced and co-written by British music producer and composer Jeymes Samuel, known best by his pseudonym, The Bullitts. This will be his directorial debut.

Samuel, who is the brother of Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Seal, will also contribute to the film’s score and soundtrack with rap superstar Jay-Z. The two previously collaborated on music for the 2013 film The Great Gatsby, according to Shadow and Act.

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