Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba Netflix Western: THE HARDER THEY FALL |
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Jeymes Samuel Details Why No One Says The N-Word In 'The Harder They Fall' | Essence
Making a period piece doesn't give creators license to call Black people the n-word, says the writer and director behind the Netflix film.
www.essence.com
won't like this but here you goThe only N word I heard was said in the soundtrack in one of the Lauryn Hill songs about 87 minutes into the movie
Jeymes Samuel Details Why No One Says The N-Word In 'The Harder They Fall'
STOP CALLING US N-GGAS JUST BECAUSE A MOVIE IS A PERIOD PIECE, SAYS THE WRITER AND DIRECTOR WHO ALSO SCORED THE MUSIC IN THE NETFLIX WESTERN.
Yesterday, The Harder They Fall was released on Netflix and in theaters worldwide, giving audiences a glimpse at a reality they’ve likely never seen before or heard of. Black men and women on horseback, living in the west in control of their destiny is the image Jeymes Samuel offers on screen with a star-studded cast that places many real-life historical figures in a fictional story full of action, comedy and, most important, agency.
A lover of Westerns, Samuel carried around the idea for this project for more than a decade, attaching some of the cast’s stars like Idris Elba and Edi Gathegi to it for just as long. Here, the writer, director and producer who also scored the soundtrack to the film talks about not compromising on his vision to make this movie, not choosing actors based on their physical appearance and why making a period piece isn’t a license to call Black people the N-word.
ESSENCE: How easy or difficult was getting this project green-lit and how does it feel to see it come to fruition?
Jeymes Samuel: Well, I suppose it was super hard getting it green-lit because I’ve been putting The Harder They Falltogether for years. So, on one hand, it was super hard, but on the flip side of it, I’m a Black guy from the ‘hood. I’ve been through much worse. So putting this movie together doesn’t compare to the hardships we all experience growing up in an environment with oppression and brutality and all of the things we go through all across the world.
I grew up in a place called Mozart Estate, which is one of the ‘hoods in the UK. Just navigating your way through there and still coming out with your individual identity is really hard. So the hardships of that don’t really compare to anything else. Putting a movie together, even if it takes years, it’s kind of easy in comparison. It’s easier than having to endure all the abuse you get from watching movies where you’re misrepresented or not represented at all. You know what I mean?
Seeing it come to life is amazing. This movie should not exist. It’s what I call a barbershop conversation. It’s like the man cutting the hair going, “Man, you know what they need to do? They need to make a movie where this person’s in it, that person’s in it.” It’s an all-Black Western. No N-words. Even in the teaser, no one’s calling us the N-word. There’s no subservience. There’s strong women with no bosses.
Is that how you came up with the concept? Were you just at the house one day thinking, Hmm. What if we had this Western?
SAMUEL: Well, I love film. I’m addicted to film. I’ve been shooting short films and music videos since I was a child, and Westerns were my favorite genre. I love them, even the ones where we’re misrepresented. So to just grow up looking for yourself, for your image, or looking for images of your sisters in a Western and not seeing them, as I got older, I would just do more and more research and find all of these real characters.
The characters in The Harder They Fall are actual, real characters. It’s not a biopic, but they’re all real characters that really existed. So you could watch it and then go and research those characters. So I wrote a script where I assembled all of the superheroes and supervillains like The Avengers. I put them in one space and one time so after The Harder They Fall no one can ever say we didn’t exist in the Old West in cinema or in real life.
Speaking of the cast, so many of the actors I spoke with said you told them they were in this film without them even having to audition.
SAMUEL: You know what it was? I wasn’t necessarily going on physical appearance. Idris Elba plays a character called Rufus Buck. The real Rufus Buck was kind of fair skin and got executed at 18 years old. The real Cherokee Bill could pass for white. He had Black in him and Native American. The real Nat Love didn’t know the real Jim Beckwourth. So I wasn’t looking for physical likenesses. What I was looking for is just more, I would suppose, swagger in this particular story I’m telling. For instance, when we first meet Stagecoach Mary, she sings. The real Stagecoach Mary wasn’t no singer. It was just pure swagger and style. The real Nat Love looked nothing like Jonathan Majors. It was more just looking for those people that carry the essence of this particular story that I was telling.
When you speak to filmmakers and directors, a lot of times the movie will be exciting but the person talking about it isn’t as excited about the movie. Then there’s me. I’m super excited about The Harder They Fall. I didn’t compromise in one area with that vision. Everything that’s in my brain I had to put on the screen.
That’s quite a statement to say you didn’t have to compromise.
I think that’s really important with art, with your vision. I believe in just assembling the team that all have the same vision. When you do that then everything kind of falls into place. Then Regina King can go and rescue Idris Elba from a train. You know what I mean?
Yes, I love that scene.
“We ain’t no nincompoop.” Let the record reflect. Just because it’s a period piece stop calling us n-ggas. It doesn’t give you license to call us n-ggas 100 times. Just because the story takes place in the 1800s shouldn’t give you license to make women subservient. When Nat Love says to Trudy Smith, “Where’s your boss?” She goes, “Boss?” When Nat Love says to Stagecoach Mary, “What in my character makes you think I’d allow that?” She goes, “I wasn’t asking for your permission.” Ain’t no subservience in this movie. We’re kings and queens on horseback.
I grew up being dark skinned and African so I never played into complexionism, right? When I was growing up, it was made to be a bad thing but I wore it like a badge of honor as a child. The darker you are the more insults you get. I used to think to myself, “Wow, man. Hollywood done a hell of a thing with our community, with Black people, and affecting the way we view ourselves.” I’ll never play into complexionism.
The music in the film really moves the story forward and is a mix of sounds from across the diaspora. Can you talk about mixing different genres together for this soundtrack?
I composed the entire score and wrote and produced all the songs on the soundtrack. The music is a huge component of The Harder They Fall because, historically, I’ve always categorized Westerns by the type of music that plays in them. Back in the old days it was a fast-strum, guitar-type Western, then they moved on to the big orchestral type, then they moved on to the Italian’s installments in the Old West. Then we had Ennio Morricone’s score, that began what was known as Spaghetti Westerns. So I wanted to do something that would have its own signature.
Black people in the Old West, we never been in the Old West in full-Technicolor swag. Not like this. Obviously, there’s been portrayals of Black people in Old Western cinema before, but not like this. So without retreading any other musical tropes, I needed to make a statement, musically. I realized that Dub, which I grew up on—my parents are West Indian and African—so Dub and Dancehall and all that, even West African music, like Fela, is very cowboy in its aesthetic. So I got Barrington Levy to sing on the actual score. Then I called the Fisk Jubilee Singers from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, established in 1866. They were the first singers to tour with the old Negro Spirituals around the world in 1871, literally 150 years ago.
It’s all African expression. The Black man and woman of America is literally walking, talking and breathing superheroes. We all go through racism all over the world, but, in America, they go through it time and time and time again on such a brutal scale and they still manage to turn out a Oprah Winfrey, still manage to turn out a Jay Z, still manage to turn out all of these people that would take a bad environment and turn it into heaven with what they’ve gone through because we’re all African. It’s all African expression. Light skin, dark skin, beige, jet black. We’re all African, whether it’s the Fisk Jubilee Singers, or Barrington Levy, or Fela, we are one. We are one. We are one. We’re one. The Harder They Fall, for me, just brings everyone together.
Im here for this!!! I wish we would fucking retire that word.Jeymes Samuel Details Why No One Says The N-Word In 'The Harder They Fall' | Essence
Making a period piece doesn't give creators license to call Black people the n-word, says the writer and director behind the Netflix film.
The only N word I heard was said in the soundtrack in one of the Lauryn Hill songs about 87 minutes into the movie
Jeymes Samuel Details Why No One Says The N-Word In 'The Harder They Fall'
STOP CALLING US N-GGAS JUST BECAUSE A MOVIE IS A PERIOD PIECE, SAYS THE WRITER AND DIRECTOR WHO ALSO SCORED THE MUSIC IN THE NETFLIX WESTERN.
Yesterday, The Harder They Fall was released on Netflix and in theaters worldwide, giving audiences a glimpse at a reality they’ve likely never seen before or heard of. Black men and women on horseback, living in the west in control of their destiny is the image Jeymes Samuel offers on screen with a star-studded cast that places many real-life historical figures in a fictional story full of action, comedy and, most important, agency.
A lover of Westerns, Samuel carried around the idea for this project for more than a decade, attaching some of the cast’s stars like Idris Elba and Edi Gathegi to it for just as long. Here, the writer, director and producer who also scored the soundtrack to the film talks about not compromising on his vision to make this movie, not choosing actors based on their physical appearance and why making a period piece isn’t a license to call Black people the N-word.
ESSENCE: How easy or difficult was getting this project green-lit and how does it feel to see it come to fruition?
Jeymes Samuel: Well, I suppose it was super hard getting it green-lit because I’ve been putting The Harder They Falltogether for years. So, on one hand, it was super hard, but on the flip side of it, I’m a Black guy from the ‘hood. I’ve been through much worse. So putting this movie together doesn’t compare to the hardships we all experience growing up in an environment with oppression and brutality and all of the things we go through all across the world.
I grew up in a place called Mozart Estate, which is one of the ‘hoods in the UK. Just navigating your way through there and still coming out with your individual identity is really hard. So the hardships of that don’t really compare to anything else. Putting a movie together, even if it takes years, it’s kind of easy in comparison. It’s easier than having to endure all the abuse you get from watching movies where you’re misrepresented or not represented at all. You know what I mean?
Seeing it come to life is amazing. This movie should not exist. It’s what I call a barbershop conversation. It’s like the man cutting the hair going, “Man, you know what they need to do? They need to make a movie where this person’s in it, that person’s in it.” It’s an all-Black Western. No N-words. Even in the teaser, no one’s calling us the N-word. There’s no subservience. There’s strong women with no bosses.
Is that how you came up with the concept? Were you just at the house one day thinking, Hmm. What if we had this Western?
SAMUEL: Well, I love film. I’m addicted to film. I’ve been shooting short films and music videos since I was a child, and Westerns were my favorite genre. I love them, even the ones where we’re misrepresented. So to just grow up looking for yourself, for your image, or looking for images of your sisters in a Western and not seeing them, as I got older, I would just do more and more research and find all of these real characters.
The characters in The Harder They Fall are actual, real characters. It’s not a biopic, but they’re all real characters that really existed. So you could watch it and then go and research those characters. So I wrote a script where I assembled all of the superheroes and supervillains like The Avengers. I put them in one space and one time so after The Harder They Fall no one can ever say we didn’t exist in the Old West in cinema or in real life.
Speaking of the cast, so many of the actors I spoke with said you told them they were in this film without them even having to audition.
SAMUEL: You know what it was? I wasn’t necessarily going on physical appearance. Idris Elba plays a character called Rufus Buck. The real Rufus Buck was kind of fair skin and got executed at 18 years old. The real Cherokee Bill could pass for white. He had Black in him and Native American. The real Nat Love didn’t know the real Jim Beckwourth. So I wasn’t looking for physical likenesses. What I was looking for is just more, I would suppose, swagger in this particular story I’m telling. For instance, when we first meet Stagecoach Mary, she sings. The real Stagecoach Mary wasn’t no singer. It was just pure swagger and style. The real Nat Love looked nothing like Jonathan Majors. It was more just looking for those people that carry the essence of this particular story that I was telling.
When you speak to filmmakers and directors, a lot of times the movie will be exciting but the person talking about it isn’t as excited about the movie. Then there’s me. I’m super excited about The Harder They Fall. I didn’t compromise in one area with that vision. Everything that’s in my brain I had to put on the screen.
That’s quite a statement to say you didn’t have to compromise.
I think that’s really important with art, with your vision. I believe in just assembling the team that all have the same vision. When you do that then everything kind of falls into place. Then Regina King can go and rescue Idris Elba from a train. You know what I mean?
Yes, I love that scene.
“We ain’t no nincompoop.” Let the record reflect. Just because it’s a period piece stop calling us n-ggas. It doesn’t give you license to call us n-ggas 100 times. Just because the story takes place in the 1800s shouldn’t give you license to make women subservient. When Nat Love says to Trudy Smith, “Where’s your boss?” She goes, “Boss?” When Nat Love says to Stagecoach Mary, “What in my character makes you think I’d allow that?” She goes, “I wasn’t asking for your permission.” Ain’t no subservience in this movie. We’re kings and queens on horseback.
I grew up being dark skinned and African so I never played into complexionism, right? When I was growing up, it was made to be a bad thing but I wore it like a badge of honor as a child. The darker you are the more insults you get. I used to think to myself, “Wow, man. Hollywood done a hell of a thing with our community, with Black people, and affecting the way we view ourselves.” I’ll never play into complexionism.
The music in the film really moves the story forward and is a mix of sounds from across the diaspora. Can you talk about mixing different genres together for this soundtrack?
I composed the entire score and wrote and produced all the songs on the soundtrack. The music is a huge component of The Harder They Fall because, historically, I’ve always categorized Westerns by the type of music that plays in them. Back in the old days it was a fast-strum, guitar-type Western, then they moved on to the big orchestral type, then they moved on to the Italian’s installments in the Old West. Then we had Ennio Morricone’s score, that began what was known as Spaghetti Westerns. So I wanted to do something that would have its own signature.
Black people in the Old West, we never been in the Old West in full-Technicolor swag. Not like this. Obviously, there’s been portrayals of Black people in Old Western cinema before, but not like this. So without retreading any other musical tropes, I needed to make a statement, musically. I realized that Dub, which I grew up on—my parents are West Indian and African—so Dub and Dancehall and all that, even West African music, like Fela, is very cowboy in its aesthetic. So I got Barrington Levy to sing on the actual score. Then I called the Fisk Jubilee Singers from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, established in 1866. They were the first singers to tour with the old Negro Spirituals around the world in 1871, literally 150 years ago.
It’s all African expression. The Black man and woman of America is literally walking, talking and breathing superheroes. We all go through racism all over the world, but, in America, they go through it time and time and time again on such a brutal scale and they still manage to turn out a Oprah Winfrey, still manage to turn out a Jay Z, still manage to turn out all of these people that would take a bad environment and turn it into heaven with what they’ve gone through because we’re all African. It’s all African expression. Light skin, dark skin, beige, jet black. We’re all African, whether it’s the Fisk Jubilee Singers, or Barrington Levy, or Fela, we are one. We are one. We are one. We’re one. The Harder They Fall, for me, just brings everyone together.
Just finished watching it, absolutely outstanding with the surprise ending that I personally didn't see coming. Shit was straight fire.. The music of this film is suberb.. A must watch.
It's definitely a lil musty (She complained Americans wash too much). Plus she doesn't shave her underarms and I'd guess her pussy either.
With that said, I'm still fucking. I'm just a nasty nigga when it comes to hoes.
This movie is awesome, it's a real western. Must see classic
The Harder They Fall Soundtrack: Every Song In The Movie (& Where To Listen)
Jeymes Samuel’s soundtrack hits every beat.
screenrant.com
Great fuckin movie, what a treat for the eyes and soul, best western EVER.... yea I said it!!!
only thing
I was rooting for Rufus Buck.... fuck the settlers bruh, taking over towns, spreading diseases wiping out us indigenous folk...
and he needed money to stop that from happening...
he just had his ways.. LOL
only thing
I was rooting for Rufus Buck.... fuck the settlers bruh, taking over towns, spreading diseases wiping out us indigenous folk...
and he needed money to stop that from happening...
he just had his ways.. LOL
The real life Cherokee Bill when they asked him if he had any last words when they were marching him for execution, this bold motherfuker said, "I came here to die. Not make a speech."
That's BAWLS
This shit is rapidly becoming my favorite movie. I wonder why they used Zazie Beatz as Stagecoach Mary rather than another actress that more favored her real-life counterpart?
Mind you Jeymes Samuels said none of these characters look like their real-life counterpart. It was more of a Vibe and swag of the actor versus them looking like their real-life counterpart
A friend of mine mentioned the sister from Lovecraft country wunmi mosaku would have made a better Stagecoach Mary
Zazie Beats wasn't bad, but if everyone else was great she takes the fall as being the worst of a superb cast
Delroy really came across like that dude you REALLY don't want to fuck with.
I knew that name sounded familiar. I remember hearing about her story several years ago. That's dope
And in typical CAC fashion.
In September 1892, a doctor employed by the U.S. Pension Bureau examined Cathay Williams. Despite the fact that she suffered from neuralgia and diabetes, she had all her toes amputated, and could only walk with a crutch, the doctor decided she did not qualify for disability payments. Her application was rejected.
Fell asleep after 25mins lol.
Seemed low budget, like 95% of netflix shit.
Guess I'll try to watch it tomorrow again since yall saying its great lol
Btw Finch on apple TV is very good.
Seemed low budget, like 95% of netflix shit.
Guess I'll try to watch it tomorrow again since yall saying its great lol
Btw Finch on apple TV is very good.
Doesn't he always though? He always comes across as that dude you don't want to fuck with. As West Indian Archie in Malcolm X, the part after he had a stroke folks thought he really had a stroke. He was that good. He never seems to
Your weight and your fate...
Yeah I was wondering what the motivation was for what happened in the beginning but I had no idea what it was until the end of the movie. Movie was great bruh.
Fell asleep after 25mins lol.
Seemed low budget, like 95% of netflix shit.
Guess I'll try to watch it tomorrow again since yall saying its great lol
Btw Finch on apple TV is very good.
Calls a Black movie boring and then suggests a white Tom Hanks flick.
ADOS coons always prove who they really are.
The writing DOPEFell asleep after 25mins lol.
Seemed low budget, like 95% of netflix shit.
Guess I'll try to watch it tomorrow again since yall saying its great lol
Btw Finch on apple TV is very good.
THe Acting DOPE
The STORYline DOPE
SEEING A QUALITY MOVIE WITH MY PEOPLE ON THE SCREEN FRONT AND
BACK END....
SUPER DOPE...
did I mention..
WRITING DOPE...
Lil Twist at the end.. DOPE!!
You sick summabytch....seek help...
