The Generation of Infamous

JAY-Z is making major moves in the film industry. On Thursday (June 25), Netflix released the first trailer for The Harder They Fall, an upcoming Western movie that’s executive produced by Hov. The film boasts an all-star cast including Idris Elba, LaKeith Stanfield, Regina King, Zazie Beetz, Delroy Lindo and Jonathan Majors.

The synopsis reads, “When outlaw Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) discovers that his enemy Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) is being released from prison he rounds up his gang to track Rufus down and seek revenge. Those riding with him in this assured, righteously new school Western include his former love Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz), his right and left hand men — hot-tempered Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi) and fast drawing Jim Beckwourth (R.J. Cyler)—and a surprising adversary-turned-ally.

“Rufus Buck has his own fearsome crew, including “treacherous” Trudy Smith (Regina King) and Cherokee Bill (LaKeith Stanfield), and they are not a group that knows how to lose.”

No release date has been announced yet, but the movie is set to arrive in 2021.

The Harder They Fall director, Jeymes Samuel, previously directed JAY-Z’s 10-minute short film for “Legacy” off his 2017 album, 4:44. The pair also collaborated in 2013 on The Great Gatsby: Music from Baz Luhrmann’s Film, where JAY-Z served as executive producer for the soundtrack album and Samuel was music supervisor.

Known as The Bullitts as a musician, Jeymes Samuel featured on Jay Electronica’s “Run & Hide” off his long-awaited Act II: The Patents of Nobility (The Turn) album that was released in 2020 and later removed from TIDAL.

Elsewhere, JAY-Z is producing a Netflix thriller called Forty Acres that’s described as a cross between Get Out and The Firm. In addition, he’s executive producing six-episode ABC series Women of the Movement about Mamie Till Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till who devoted her life to seeking justice for her son after his 1955 killing in the Jim Crow South.

Through Roc Nation, he’s also teaming up with Michael B. Jordan for an Amazon limited series based on the life of Muhammad Ali.