Regina King heaps praise on ‘visionary’ director Jeymes Samuel as The Harder They Fall lands on Netflix

Regina King has heaped praise on ‘visionary’ director Jeymes Samuel for The Harder They Fall.

The Western flick, which is released on Netflix on November 3, commands an all-star cast, including Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Lakeith Stanfield and Jonathan Majors.

Director Jeymes has won applause from many for putting a Black cast at the forefront of the action and shedding a light on diverse stories in a genre that have previously gone overlooked.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk and other press ahead of the release, Regina and Idris, who played Treacherous Trudy and Rufus Buck respectively, opened up about the ‘unique’ movie.

When asked whether the industry has changed over the last decade, the actress said: ‘I think it’s really important to give kudos to Jeymes Samuel. 10 years ago, this would not have been done because Jeymes had not fully created it in his mind yet. 

‘The Harder They Fall is unique because Jeymes is the type of writer-director who thinks in music, so every scene that’s written, every image that you’re seeing, he’s writing it or designing it with a rhythm in his head, and that’s very unique. I wouldn’t want to put his vision in a certain category.

Regina starred as Treacherous Trudy in The Harder They Fall (Picture: YouTube)

‘That’s the reason why we call them visionaries, because they’re seeing things the way we would not necessarily imagine them. 

‘As you’re living it, seeing it for us living it and breathing life into his words, we become the storytellers as well.’

The Harder They Fall was shot during the coronavirus pandemic, with bosses working extra hard behind the scenes to make sure that everyone was safe.

As well as safety, Regina also recalled moments of pure fun that the filmmaker would inject when the cameras stopped rolling, something she found refreshing.

Regina was full of praise for director Jeymes and the crew (Picture: Getty)

Idris and Regina raved about their time on the Western set (Picture: Getty)

‘Normally on sets in between takes, the crew, the assistant directors are always asking for a quiet set, primarily because the crew has to get work done and so they can communicate and hear each other, they want to keep the site quiet,’ she told us. 

‘We were shooting under circumstances that no one has ever experienced before, we were shooting in the middle of a pandemic. Sometimes there was more anxiety on set than there would normally be. And Jeymes, he – over the speakers – just started playing music. 

‘And I think at one point Idris went up to him…’

‘I asked him [to play] You Are My Starship,’ Idris interjected before she continued: ‘And that man pulled it up like he was a DJ! Like somebody was asking you!’

‘So you imagine we’re on this beautiful set, it’s the Old West set and everyone’s dressed to the nines in their costumes and we’re dancing to this soul,’ he added. 

‘Everyone was dancing, all the extras. It was a real fun moment, a beautiful moment.’

The Harder They Fall is in select cinemas now, and will be available to stream on Netflix worldwide from November 3.

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