Idris Elba to star in Western for Netflix

Idris Elba is set to front an "all-black Western" for Netflix titled The Harder They Fall.

The British actor will star alongside The Last Black Man in San Francisco's Jonathan Majors in the new project.

According to representatives for the streaming service, the "all-black Western" will tell the story of real-life outlaw Nat Love, to be played by Majors, who discovers that the man - to be portrayed by Elba - who killed his parents two decades ago is being released from prison. He then reunites with his gang to track his enemy down and seek his revenge.

The film will be directed by British singer-songwriter Jeymes Samuel, who is known by his stage name The Bullitts, in his feature-length film debut. He has previously worked on a 51-minute Western titled They Die by Dawn, starring Rosario Dawson and Michael Kenneth Williams, who also portrayed Love, the real-life African-American cowboy and former slave.

Samuels is also a frequent collaborator with rapper JAY-Z, having directed the music video for his song Legacy in 2017 and worked with him on the soundtrack to The Great Gatsby in 2013. They will team up once again on The Harder They Fall, for which Jay will write and produce original music.

Both Samuel and Jay will serve as producers alongside James Lassiter and Lawrence Bender, while Samuel will also write the script with Boaz Yakin.

Elba was seen on screen earlier this year in Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw and will next be in cinemas as Macavity in Tom Hooper's live-action movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats. He is currently filming The Suicide Squad alongside Margot Robbie and Peter Capaldi and the drama Ghetto Cowboy.