You look very suave.
I feel very under-dressed at this premiere.
-No, you look good! -I tried, I tried.
Urban chic.
Thank you.
Hi, I'm Gena with Netflix UK.
I'm here at the London Film Festival
to be your eyes and ears
for the premiere of The Harder They Fall.
Please.
We've got lots of exciting people here tonight.
We've got Jeymes Samuel,
who is the writer and director of the film.
We've got Idris Elba.
I was promised Jay-Z. I hope I get to see Jay-Z.
We've got Jonathan Majors, Edi Gathegi.
We've got tons of exciting people.
Oh my fucking God!
Now, Jeymes Samuel, you're the director, writer,
you're the man behind it all.
I'm also the composer of the entire score.
You've done bits.
You're from London.
You can tell, just by the way you are,
you're a London guy.
-Harrow Road. -Is it?
-I'm from Southeast. -I love Southeast.
Right, right. I'm from South London, but…
What must it feel like?
I mean, this is your directorial debut.
You're here premiering it,
London Film Festival, in London, right?
It's on Netflix. What was that journey like?
You must be so proud of what you achieved.
I'm so proud, really, of what you've achieved,
what I've achieved, what everyone's achieved.
-This is our movie. -Yeah.
What was it like partnering with Jeymes
and doing the work with the rest of the cast?
He made it easy
because Jeymes has energy, enthusiasm.
He stays positive every day.
-Yeah. -I mean…
And you know,
he has such an incredible vision for this movie.
He knew every single frame of what he wanted.
-Right, yeah. -You know?
This is our movie, man. Like, from London…
From when we're in London, or America…
Gosh. You all love each other so much.
The inspiration for the music is just like,
you know,
westerns and that genre, influenced the world,
because at one point, it was the only thing on TV,
like everything on free access TV.
-Yeah. -So it influenced the world.
You'd go to Jamaica and see people dressed as cowboys.
And you know, how that influenced the culture…
Sorry. Just waiting for her.
Then for us to bring it
all the way back full circle was just beautiful.
So, your list of accolades is long.
It's long. You've been in all sorts, everywhere.
-I've been about. -Yeah, you've been about.
What drew you to this film in particular?
Just the uniqueness, you know?
I mean, I love westerns, period,
but I've never seen a western like this.
The way it was written and he brought it together,
the styling, the impact he wanted it to make,
was really, like, different and unique.
It's a story that really pushes narrative,
and breaks genre and expands genre.
Build muscle by tearing it. That's how you get strong.
And so, as the audience, we all had to do that.
I know I had to do that, personally.
-And everybody deserves it. -Right.
The culture deserves it. This festival deserves it.
Those who cried, and sweat, and bled over it,
they deserve it.
And it's here, so let's roll.
Clearly, you don't know me.
What are you most proud of?
I mean, that we made it to the finish line
and we're here right now, that is…
This film just had so many odds against it,
with shooting in a pandemic.
At one point, it was like, "Are we coming back?
Are we gonna finish this film?"
And because everyone really believed in it
and really wanted to see it through,
because it is so unique, as you pointed out,
to just be here and celebrate it is beyond.
The favourite part comes from the sadness
of the pandemic, to be honest.
Because we all were right there, ready to shoot.
Yeah.
And I caught Covid, and it stopped.
And so, from that point on,
we became a family and we bonded.
-You can really tell. -Yeah.
And now, you know, we made the film,
but we feel really close to each other.
Shit ain't gonna end well for you.
Really?