There aren’t too many Westerns made these days, let alone Westerns with big Hollywood stars. So the news that none other than Idris Elba will be starring in a brand new Western certainly has our attention.
Elba is set to star in the upcoming Western The Harder They Fall, where he’ll play the murderous villain to rising star Jonathan Majors’ outlaw protagonist. The film is produced by Jay Z, and will mark the directorial debut of Jeymes Samuel, a singer-songwriter better known by his stage name, “The Bullitts.” Samuel previously worked with Jay Z on the soundtrack to 2012’s The Great Gatsby, and the pair will also write music for The Harder They Fall, which is expected to similarly incorporate a modern soundtrack into its period setting. Here’s the synopsis of the film, via Deadline:
When outlaw Nat Love (Majors) discovers that the man (Elba) who killed his parents two decades ago is being released from prison, he reunites with his gang to track his enemy down and seek his revenge.
The plot sounds like a good old-fashioned revenge Western, but the film’s cast is expected to be either entirely or mostly made up of black actors. This could mark a nice change of pace for the genre, as Hollywood Westerns have long perpetuated a white cowboy stereotype when in actuality one in four cowboys was black.
The film isn’t Elba’s first foray into Westerns. He’s starring in the upcoming modern Western Concrete Cowboys, and he portrayed the Gunslinger Roland Deschain in the Stephen King fantasy The Dark Tower. The Harder They Fall does, however, represent the actor’s most traditional Western film so far.
No release date has been announced for The Harder They Fall, which is being produced by Netflix.
