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Westerns are centered on black characters even though according to history, a large number of cowboys were blacks.
Filmmaker Jeymes Samuel's new feature film 'The Harder They Fall' sets out to challenge viewers' perception of the genre with an all-Black cast based on characters who existed in the history.
Pulse recently caught up with Hollywood stars, Idris Elba and Regina Hall, co-stars on the newly debuted feature film and the actors opened up on playing outlaws Rufus Buck and Treacherous Trudy.
Are you both fans of Westerns?
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Idris Elba: I can tell you now, Regina is not a fan of Westerns. I'm just going to say that cause I know it's tough but I am though. I like the genre, the vibes. It's very sought of macho-driven characters with high intensity drama so I do like Westerns.
Regina King: Westerns were definitely a nap for me but with Westerns like ‘The Harder They Fall’, I would probably love Westerns.
Black representation is barely explored in Westerns. Did this inspire you to work on the project?
Regina King: Yeah, I mean definitely that had something to do with it but I'll take it a step further. The Blackness is always good, it's always something to celebrate. Something to want to be a part of but I have to be honest. If Jeymes' vision of the story was anything like I had seen before, I might have been like thank you yeah alright tell Idris I said what's up. But you know when I met Jeymes and he painted for me his vision, I was like I'm here for it.
Idris Elba: I've known Jeymes for a long time and I've known that he wanted to do this. We're friends so yeah there was no version of me not doing this movie and I really feel that what we will see now is the door open to how Westerns or in fact any other genre of film is told because you can put a different lens on it.
For example, we have seen Bridgeton recently and it shows the sort of Victorian times but it had Black people in it and that has now opened up to sort of lens for period pieces. Why can't we see a multiracial cast in this type of genre type pieces? I'm happy that this has been made. I think it opens the door for people.
What was one exciting thing you both had to learn to do to play your characters?
Idris Elba: We both had to learn to ride horses but I'm allergic to horses so as excited as I was about being a Western, I had tears in my eyes and in my throat...I remember there was one old man, he was an extra and he said 'Idris you got to drink some pickle juice, you'll be alright' and it worked.
'The Harder They Fall' is currently streaming in Nigerian cinemas but will premiere on streaming platform on November 3, 2021.
Watch the interview: