What does an actor think about before they take on a new role? What are their thoughts on how they understand a character? What do they call upon as they strive to give us such memorable performances? In a series of excerpts, cast members of The Harder They Fall talk about the process of preparing for their roles in the acclaimed all-Black Western. 

Jonathan Majors (Nat Love)

Jonathan Majors obviously felt Nat Love was a role he could master. In fact, he drew on his rural roots to play the famed cowboy. His first role in a Western was in Hostiles. “That was shot in New Mexico too, and to our benefit a lot of the horse wranglers [on The Harder They Fall] were the same guys as before,” he told Vice. “So the horse I rode in the film was actually the horse that one of my fellow cast mates rode in the previous film.”

In addition to the physical demands, there’s also the emotional toll of getting into character. In an interview with NME, he discussed a crying scene. “I think the more action someone takes, the more feeling they have. That’s what feelings do, right? You get angry or you get sad and your body starts to push adrenaline through you to get something done. The amount of love it takes, the amount of fear it takes, to jump on a horse and not think about anything but [getting to the woman he loves]… we’ve got to see that.”

Regina King (Treacherous Trudy)

Regina King was in as soon as director Jeymes Samuel broke down his vision for the film. “I was just so excited,” she told Ebony. “It felt fresh. I played some of the music that he had already written to some of the scenes, and I just was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to take a ride with you.’” 

In order to prepare, King had to work with her distaste for guns and her lack of knowledge of Westerns. “I’m not a gun lover — even though people would probably go, ‘All the guns we’ve watched you shoot?’ — but with this our weapons are from the 19th century, so they’re revolvers,” she told Variety. “I have never shot a revolver before, and, if I have, it wasn’t a revolver that you had to reload after each fire, and then figure [that] out with the gloves on.” 

Zazie Beetz (Stagecoach Mary)

While Zazie Beetz isn’t well known for singing, she sings in the sexy saloon scene where Nat Love sees her for the first time in a while. She told Wonderland, “Yes! Yes that is my voice, and we pre-recorded that in Jeymes’ house. It’s pretty cool actually, because a lot of the sounds that are layered are Jeymes clapping and I think Idris came over and did some of the voices of the men, which was really cool. I grew up loving musicals and I love musicals. I wanted to do Broadway that was like my first big dream and I kind of felt like I don’t really have a Broadway voice, I don’t know if I am skilled enough to be on Broadway but I love to sing so much and I think I have my own unique voice that isn’t like an Idina Menzel belt, but it’s its own unique little thing and maybe I can do something and I’d love to sing more.”

Idris Elba (Rufus Buck)

The biggest challenge for Idris Elba was healing from COVID-19. “Second day after I landed and met everyone, I’m told I had COVID,” he told Page Six. 

“This was at our very beginning. I emailed each cast member and I was like, ‘Man, what do I say? I’m sorry.’ We were all terrified. There were unknowns at this juncture. Everyone wrote back, ‘Dude, I have your back... just chill... you’re going to be all right. Don’t worry.’” 

The next hurdle was finding the right accent for notorious gang leader Rufus Buck. “They’re all challenging, you know. I almost have anxiety about accents now because people know how I sound,” he told The Grio. “When I started off in America, at least people didn’t know how I sounded, so I could get away with a lot more. But in this case… this film is about a transient community.” 

LaKeith Stanfield (Cherokee Bill)

In a caption on his Instagram account, LaKeith Stanfield shared his thoughts on filming The Harder They Fall. “The worst part of filming this movie was that I was in a pretty bad space mentally. I couldn’t see what life had in store to teach me about myself that I needed to know. I loved the horses so much because of their silent strength and beautiful patience with my reluctant fear at having never rode a horse before. They weren’t shy in making me be great. One day ‘Magnolia’ (that wasn’t the horse's name but I refused to not call him that in my head) bucked me off, and in that moment I heard him loud and clearly. BE STRONG OR GET OFF.”