Jay-Z has taken another huge step as a Hollywood producer, this time producing the Netflix movie “The Harder They Fall.”
It’ll star Johnathan Majors, who also stars in the buzzed-about flick “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.” And it’ll be directed by Jeymes Samuel, a singer-songwriter, who partnered with Jay-Z on “The Great Gatsby” soundtrack. The Netflix film will be Samuel’s directorial debut.
The story behind the Jay-Z-produced release follows Major’s character Nat Love, an outlaw who finds out the man who killed his parents 20 years ago is getting out of prison. He then calls upon his old gang affiliates to follow the murderer and dish out a little street justice.
According to Complex, “The Harder They Fall” was pitched to other companies three years ago, and the original had the star-studded cast of Wesley Snipes, Rosario Dawson, Erykah Badu, Jessie Williams and Michael K. Williams. There’s no word if any of those celebs will be tapped for the Netflix release.
The movie will mark Jay-Z’s latest project as a film producer, as he’s already worked on the miniseries “TIME: The Kalief Browder Story” in 2017 and “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story” in 2018.
The “Blueprint” rapper also produced the forthcoming documentary “Free Meek” about Meek Mill’s criminal justice fight, which will be released August 9 on Amazon. The trailer was first shown at the 2019 BET Awards last month.
As for Majors, he’s also starring in Spike Lee‘s Netflix film “Da 5 Bloods” along with Chadwick Boseman and Delroy Lindo. That film is scheduled to be released in 2020.
Besides Jay-Z, Samuel will also wear a producer hat for “The Harder They Fall,” as will James Lassiter, who produced a number of Will Smith films like “Hitch,” “I Am Legend,” “Hancock” and “Seven Pounds.” Lassiter also produced the 2005 cult classic “ATL.”
A release date for “The Harder They Fall” has yet to be announced.
