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Jonathan Majors Talks New Netflix Movie 'The Harder They Fall' | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Nov 16, 2021
Actor Jonathan Majors called into Sway In the Morning to talk about his new film 'The Harder They Fall'. The star studded cast including, Idris Elba, Regina King and Lakeith Stanfield to name a few has officially debuted on Netflix and is changing the narrative of what a western should look like.
Sway and team spoke with Majors about the film and how it came together.
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Jonathan Majors Talks New Netflix Movie 'The Harder They Fall' | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/-VDUrxry7Zk
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0:00
man old devil this is gonna be buck's
0:02
last day amongst the living
0:05
what exactly he do to you
0:08
call it a
0:09
professional rivalry
0:12
i know who you are
0:14
that love
0:15
outlaw hunts down those who trespass
0:18
against him
0:21
with no mercy
0:24
where is who they're both my boss
0:27
clearly you don't know me
0:32
i heard rufus buck was back
0:36
it's like no road to ask a friend to
0:37
travel
0:38
you think destiny's coming to you my
0:40
guns go back
0:44
man this is how easily the most
0:46
anticipated
0:48
film out uh and it has been for a long
0:51
time bb i want you to do the honors and
0:52
give this man a royal welcome please
0:55
ah yes with pleasure because for
0:57
starters he grew up in dallas and
0:59
graduated from duncanville high school
1:01
and i graduated from louisville high
1:03
school so we often played against each
1:04
other in sports but we're here to
1:06
celebrate him and his accomplishments as
1:08
an actor he recently starred in the
1:09
marvel series loki and will appear in
1:11
the upcoming ant-man and the watts
1:13
quantomania as kang the conqueror i
1:15
could get into that marvel stuff all day
1:17
but you know i'm as atticus freeman on
1:19
the hbo series lovecraft country for
1:21
which he received a primetime emmy
1:22
nomination he started movies like white
1:24
boy rick the last black man in san
1:26
francisco gully and spike lee's the five
1:28
bloods he's currently starring as that
1:30
love in the heart of they fall in
1:31
theaters and available today on netflix
1:34
welcome to the show jonathan majors wow
1:38
whoa
1:40
[Applause]
1:44
[Laughter]
1:53
wow
1:54
man dude you went from living in a car
1:58
to all of this stuff that db said
2:02
it's crazy bro good morning by the way
2:04
grand rises jonathan majors is here and
2:07
by the way man we share the same
2:08
namesake that's my government too i'm
2:10
really very rarely revealed that but
2:12
that's why you i know you're one of us
2:15
um but man congratulations
2:18
congratulations oh thank you brother
2:20
thank you brother guys good man god is
2:22
good i'm gonna i'm gonna i just gotta
2:24
talk about this louisville thing for a
2:26
minute i don't know what sport you play
2:27
bro but duncanville you already know
2:29
what it is right
2:30
yeah yeah yeah yeah i know you guys had
2:35
you guys had a crazy roster every year
2:37
we played y'all it was like damn we got
2:38
to play these dudes again but you know
2:40
that that's a whole
2:41
offline conversation about louisville
2:43
and duncanville
2:45
nah you guys are hard too though you
2:46
guys are hard too though for sure wow
2:48
yeah we won state did we we won state
2:50
let's let's acknowledge that
2:53
yeah scoobing around for a while it's
2:55
all good
3:00
hey man jonathan majors is here man hey
3:02
by the way salute love craft country i
3:05
don't know why it got canceled um
3:08
i didn't get it i didn't get the snubs
3:11
at the emmys but regardless of what the
3:14
emmy said
3:16
or did not say regardless of why it got
3:18
canceled that was an amazing series bro
3:21
what what
3:22
what was that experience like being on
3:24
the set with journey being on the set
3:26
with mike okay what was that whole
3:29
experience like for you
3:31
i appreciate i appreciate that sweet man
3:33
it's um
3:34
i still think on it man it was um it was
3:37
the first time that i ever had the
3:38
chance to
3:39
you know kind of step into something of
3:41
that magnitude
3:43
you know so
3:44
that was a blessing you know to be able
3:46
to work my crafts with with those
3:47
individuals as you said journey smallett
3:50
um courtney b vance argento ellis
3:54
um and my brother and friend the late
3:56
great michael k williams um
3:58
it was a it was a master class in
4:00
humanity you know it was a master class
4:02
in spirituality we talked a lot about
4:04
you know um
4:06
the ancestors and and what happens when
4:08
you get all of us together all these
4:10
soldiers together trying to tell this
4:11
story
4:12
um on such a platform man so it was uh
4:15
it was a huge growing experience um in
4:17
my personal life and my artistic life
4:20
uh in my career and to tell our stories
4:22
on that stage was just um
4:24
it was a blessing you know it was a big
4:26
blessing and and like you you know
4:29
the world's got away you know and so i
4:31
can't really wrap my mind around the
4:33
fact without you know going on but
4:36
um i'm happy that it it it was and it
4:39
still is because we're still talking
4:40
about it so yeah yeah
4:42
you never know the way things work it
4:44
may be again who's to say
4:47
yes sir that's right i don't i don't
4:49
know the politics behind it but i think
4:51
your story is amazing you know when i
4:53
read about you and then i watch your
4:55
work of course i was you know i'm from
4:57
oakland bay area jonathan of course i
4:59
was into the last black man in san
5:00
francisco in this
5:02
in its history about in those victorian
5:04
homes that are in the bay a hb off to
5:06
talk about victorian homes in the bay
5:09
are yeah the queen equivalent i equate
5:12
them to brownstones in new york and then
5:14
even our history got it okay you know
5:16
the seeds that we planted you know
5:18
that's what i loved about lovecraft
5:20
country uh that's what i love about uh
5:23
this movie right here the harder they
5:25
fall you know we brought up michael k
5:27
williams you play nat love
5:29
in this and i've seen that love play
5:31
before
5:33
um i know michael k williams played that
5:35
love uh before and ernie hudson played
5:37
nat love michael k williams playing that
5:39
love and um
5:40
they die by don and i watched that yes
5:43
sir
5:44
what was what was your relationship with
5:46
mike okay
5:47
and did you reflect on his portrayal of
5:49
nat love when you went into this at all
5:52
well it's like it's like this i guess
5:54
like
5:56
mike
5:58
i mean there's only there can only be
6:00
one you know i mean there can only be
6:02
one michael k williams you know and and
6:05
he played a role he played matt love and
6:08
i watched it and i think at the time i
6:11
watched it me and mike had already
6:13
uh worked together and our brotherhood
6:15
was kind of already you know set in so i
6:17
had a very clear opinion on him as an
6:19
artist you know
6:21
he he led an example for me
6:24
in many ways on on the amount of
6:25
vulnerability that we could we could uh
6:28
express as artists you know and how to
6:30
live and kind of move to the world
6:32
so watching that him watching him move
6:35
through the world like that and watching
6:36
him portraying that love
6:38
i knew initially there's no way i can do
6:40
what he's doing you know but there is a
6:42
certain place that he's coming from that
6:45
i can try to venture into
6:47
and see you know and one of the things
6:49
and we won't i won't harp on it too long
6:51
because it's art so i could talk to her
6:53
i could talk forever about it right but
6:54
i washed his eyes you know i washed his
6:57
eyes and i watched where his pain was
6:58
coming from and um i was cast in the
7:01
role uh while we were shooting lovecraft
7:03
country and the thing about it is you
7:05
know
7:06
amongst brothers you don't really gotta
7:08
talk about certain things you know when
7:10
he saw what was going on and and i knew
7:12
he knew and we were like so it was like
7:14
literally it was all good there was no
7:15
conversation about it
7:17
um except for the fact that he said
7:19
congratulations and i said oh i
7:21
appreciate it man he told me about james
7:23
and our director james samuel um he told
7:25
me about him and and that was that was
7:27
that was it you know and so it was just
7:28
his support you know and there was so
7:30
many things he could have done
7:32
um to
7:34
you know
7:35
make me feel crazy about it you know i
7:37
mean yeah i mean it was his quote you
7:38
know more or less uh there's a different
7:40
film it's a different story in a way but
7:42
he he originated the rope you know so
7:45
in all things it's a blessing to carry
7:46
it on you know and he really gave me
7:48
that blessing to carry his own so
7:50
i just did my best and and tried to make
7:52
him
7:53
try to honor his work uh and my
7:55
portrayal of it as well
7:57
absolutely jonathan majors is here um
7:59
we're talking about the harder they fall
8:00
man um
8:01
we share some other things in common
8:04
other than our first name you know i've
8:05
been fortunate enough to work with some
8:07
of the greatest that have ever come out
8:09
of music you know whether it's tupac
8:12
biggie pun dmx
8:14
you know the list goes on
8:17
and i used to feel a little awkward
8:18
about my experiences with them after
8:20
they transitioned and then i realized my
8:23
big sister told me you agree it you're
8:25
supposed to tell the stories you're
8:27
supposed to pass on the legacy you're
8:29
supposed to signify them and speak them
8:31
into existence even if they're not
8:32
hearing a physical and when i think
8:34
about you and i'm asking you about
8:36
michael k
8:37
we had delroy lindo uh who's from
8:39
oakland where i'm from too i'm sad
8:41
tripping y'all
8:42
upset trevor
8:43
okay yeah i got it
8:45
go ahead go ahead go ahead you know what
8:47
i'm saying john then you know what we do
8:48
but you know um yeah dale we he you and
8:51
he was some of the last actors to work
8:53
with chadwick bozeman when y'all both
8:55
started the five bloods we had spike lee
8:58
on
8:58
two you know and one of the things i
9:00
realized after working with folks like
9:02
biggie and pot it really made me that
9:05
experience gave me a whole new outlook
9:07
on making the most out of my time on
9:09
earth you know because you just never
9:12
know having worked with chad with
9:14
bozeman and bozeman and
9:16
you know in him past what was that
9:19
experience like and
9:21
did it make you reflect on your own life
9:24
in in your own mission
9:27
it's kind of all connected in an odd way
9:29
because
9:31
i said it's twofold with chadwick
9:33
because
9:34
me and chad we're in thailand together
9:36
shooting the spike joint and um
9:39
you know both these gentlemen
9:41
um my brother mike and chad are you know
9:44
there's like one's a generation above me
9:47
and one's two generations above me and
9:48
i'm kind of i'm trying to hold down mine
9:50
the best i can and what they both had in
9:52
common is they both kind of
9:53
both allowed me to kind of take space
9:56
you know and be present with them and
9:57
they kind of both led by example i can
10:00
say that really really for chadwick
10:02
because
10:03
we had more in common
10:05
in our in our coming up in the in the
10:07
game a little bit you know
10:09
and what i saw him do on set you know
10:11
the amount of uh vigor
10:13
in the amount of aggression he had
10:16
towards the work and towards the craft
10:18
um
10:19
he honored it i'll tell you one thing
10:21
else about about chad that he did that
10:23
that really stuck in my mind chad
10:25
bozeman you know what i mean
10:27
black panther at the time
10:28
and the way things work on the set
10:31
and i'll conclude but the way things
10:32
work on the set is that you kind of get
10:34
a number when you get there right that's
10:35
kind of how it works right big dollars
10:36
and number one dude i mean you know how
10:38
the game works a little bit right so
10:39
chad was way up there right the chat
10:41
wasn't working at those many days you
10:43
know i think he was working maybe
10:45
not nearly as much as as as the original
10:47
bloods right
10:48
and what chad did unbeknownst to a lot
10:50
of us is he had his number brought he he
10:53
went down five numbers it's called the
10:55
five bloods you understand and he went
10:57
down five numbers on that call sheet
10:59
and i noticed it and i thought there's
11:01
humility in that you know that's a good
11:03
way of living that's a good way and here
11:05
he is he's been playing jackie robinson
11:07
you know he's played third good marshall
11:09
now he's playing you know our hero in
11:12
this story this man has this much
11:14
humility and this much uh dignity for
11:16
the craft and he did it quietly and
11:18
that's something i really took from him
11:20
you know and he didn't say it to me but
11:22
i just watched it happen i really took
11:24
that from him i said yeah you can do
11:25
everything you want to do
11:27
quietly
11:28
and humbly
11:29
um
11:31
and when he actually passed you know he
11:33
transitioned i was shooting if i was
11:34
shooting
11:36
um
11:37
you know the harder they fall so i'm
11:38
sitting in new mexico
11:40
um all my lonesome actually because we
11:42
hadn't come back yet
11:43
and he passed
11:45
and i thought about that obviously you
11:47
know in solitude
11:49
and um
11:50
i thought yeah i'm just doing the work
11:51
quietly now you know i don't know if
11:53
we're gonna make this movie or not but
11:54
i'm doing it quietly
11:55
um
11:56
that's something i took from uh brother
11:58
chad um
12:00
yeah you know you just do your best but
12:01
you know and you're looking at all for
12:03
me it's like man
12:04
this game is tough in it you know you
12:06
got two homies that you get close to and
12:08
all of a sudden it's like man you know
12:10
it can go so quickly you know um
12:13
i mean you know that more than anybody
12:14
you know
12:16
that's you know yeah you know
12:18
yeah man um that's why i honor it i
12:21
cherish it and i signify it that's why
12:22
i'm asking you you know keep that spirit
12:24
in jonathan majors is here the harder
12:26
they fall he's be
12:28
the harder they fall
12:29
hey jonathan hayes have the nice to talk
12:32
to you and and meet you and hear your
12:34
voice and i know that you said that it
12:36
it's art for you but i was just curious
12:39
um just being in this do you ever or
12:42
have you ever like remember hearing the
12:44
good news that you got cast or you
12:46
booked the job or something and you just
12:48
super celebrated big time and if so do
12:50
you remember what you did in mind
12:51
sharing with us
12:53
oh man yeah so i love craft country
12:56
right so yes the beauty of it is i'm
12:59
shooting the last black man in san
13:00
francisco
13:02
and uh it's me and jimmy fails
13:05
um my leading man and that and that you
13:07
know
13:08
we're partners in it
13:09
and so we're driving around
13:12
and uh we get out we're about to go see
13:14
a movie and i get a phone call
13:16
and you know all the trials and
13:17
tribulations getting it wrong it's just
13:19
crazy you know um but they called me
13:21
tell me i got it and i go oh my goodness
13:23
and i call her i scream i'm sprinting
13:26
down the road
13:27
uh van nuys well yeah then i uh yeah
13:31
yeah yeah that street yeah i'm sprinting
13:33
up and down that street and jimmy fails
13:35
was like what's wrong what happened what
13:36
happened what happened
13:38
like i got this i got the road man i got
13:40
it i called my mom i'm crying
13:42
and then me and him sit in the movie
13:43
theater and watching this uh joaquin
13:45
phoenix film
13:46
and i just can't even sit still i said
13:48
we gotta go man we gotta get out we
13:49
gotta get up so we get out and he's from
13:52
he's from san francisco he takes me to
13:54
this arcade and
13:55
i probably drink more whiskey than i
13:57
should
13:58
i don't really drink but i was trying to
13:59
kick it with him and he can run so i was
14:01
trying to run with him and celebrate but
14:03
uh we just rolled around san francisco
14:05
all day just just taking in that taking
14:07
in that moment um
14:08
that was great that was great that was
14:10
great i mean congratulations
14:12
congratulations that's a big movie man
14:14
it's a big movie i saw one of the
14:16
premieres i saw jay and the whole cast
14:18
it must be great
14:20
standing next to a billionaire
14:25
you know i mean again humility humility
14:27
yeah you can't you can't smell it all
14:29
you know you can't tell he's still
14:31
to me at least you know he's he's i mean
14:33
i don't know him that well you know but
14:35
he's still a straight homie to me you
14:37
know seems very
14:38
down earth and all those things but
14:41
i mean yeah i mean i wouldn't i
14:47
jay was worth a billion before he had it
14:48
in the bank you know what i mean to us
14:51
to the culture to the community so we
14:53
don't define i don't define him by that
14:55
i define him by the exact same
14:57
fundamentals you talk about watching
14:59
that man grow
15:00
db i'm gonna let you do i know he has to
15:03
go but i i know you wanted to talk about
15:04
the film this is incredible film on
15:07
citizens uh the cast is full of just
15:10
all-stars db go for it
15:13
yeah uh so jonathan um you know we've
15:15
been talking a lot about it on the show
15:16
and i'm sure you know about the
15:18
unfortunate uh tragedy that happened
15:20
with alec baldwin's movie rust and so
15:22
there's been a lot of conversation about
15:23
gun safety on the sets of films and
15:25
being that this is a western you guys
15:27
were dealing with a lot of firearms and
15:29
things like that i wondered if you could
15:31
maybe um explain how the
15:34
props and things like that were being
15:36
held and dealt with on the set of the
15:39
harder they fall you know and just kind
15:41
of give some context as to how uh
15:44
prop prop guns were handled on this film
15:47
uh this imagine um uh my film are they
15:51
fall or alex yes
15:53
oh so oh yes three men
15:56
right there's a fella named rick
15:58
there's a fella named jp jones and the
16:00
guy named joey
16:01
um
16:03
i forgive me for not saying their last
16:04
names but but those are the three guys
16:06
that really um equipped us and trained
16:09
us on
16:11
um
16:11
it this is the term like like gun
16:14
handling that was joey who taught us how
16:16
that you know there's a lot of tricks i
16:18
mean if you watch uh rj tyler he does
16:20
some amazing things uh with his uh
16:23
firearms
16:24
um
16:25
but the safety measurements were imp
16:27
were implemented by all three of them
16:29
and we were and we were drilled big time
16:32
we always wore
16:34
our safety we there are certain things
16:36
if you drop the gun you don't you just
16:38
you just walk away
16:40
you inform joey who was you know the big
16:42
handler on them
16:44
boy jp you know who's our prop master
16:46
um
16:47
i mean they are
16:48
the thing about them is that they have
16:50
to be treated like um
16:53
they're like wild animals they're like
16:54
organic beings you know there's
16:56
there's a lot of things you can do to
16:58
make them safe
16:59
but ultimately is a team effort you know
17:02
that's three people to deal with another
17:04
grown person
17:05
dealing with a firearm you know i mean
17:07
they are not to be played with they are
17:09
not toys uh what we do in movies are
17:12
done in movies you know and still
17:14
there's a reality that these things can
17:17
um are actually made to
17:19
maim and in some cases take life and so
17:21
there has to be a uh
17:23
for us there was a great understanding
17:25
of that you know and in the film we even
17:28
knew that i mean we
17:30
we had a great understanding amongst the
17:31
cast we don't play with each other with
17:33
them we didn't uh draw on each other
17:36
with them
17:37
you know if we really work on we turn
17:38
our backs to people
17:40
and uh because you gotta practice you
17:41
know but you practice in a very safe
17:43
isolated area
17:44
um it's quite unfortunate what happened
17:47
um on that set especially because it's
17:49
it hits close to home in a way because
17:50
it's you know i love new mexico i love
17:52
santa fe new mexico um
17:55
and it happened you know and and i think
17:57
i believe in some of the same places we
17:58
shot our film you know um
18:01
it's a tragedy you know i would say that
18:03
it's a tragedy and i hope that
18:06
you know that prop master and uh mr
18:08
baldwin and
18:10
um
18:10
those who have been affected by this
18:12
event you know um in the production you
18:15
know
18:16
find a way to really really it can't
18:18
happen again it just it just can't
18:20
happen again and um
18:22
we need to implement as an industry uh
18:24
things to to put that in place i mean a
18:27
take a movie is not worth someone's life
18:31
jonathan majors thank you for joining us
18:33
the harder they fall it's in theaters
18:35
we're talking idris idris elba
18:37
uh zazie beats regina king delroy lindo
18:41
latif stansfield i mean jeez dion cole
18:43
damon williams jr
18:45
just in one sentence i know you have to
18:47
go why should people
18:49
go see this movie the harder they fall
18:51
and what's the importance of the
18:52
storyline
18:55
wow this movie this movie is going to
18:56
change the planet i'll say that
18:59
um and then the importance of uh in the
19:02
movie in one line i guess um
19:05
um
19:08
everybody's an underdog
19:11
yeah
19:12
everybody's what say that again say that
19:13
again everybody everybody's an underdog
19:16
everybody's an underdog if you don't
19:19
know who nat love is look him up real
19:21
person
19:22
uh even wrote his own autobiography uh
19:25
was famous born enslaved um as a free
19:28
man
19:29
he learned about literacy when at a time
19:31
when literacy was illegal black man
19:35
here in the united states talks about a
19:37
part of our history we don't often talk
19:38
about the black influence in the in in
19:41
terms of the cowboy industry um and so
19:44
thank you for making this film jonathan
19:47
mages hopefully we'll see you in person
19:48
soon congratulations man you've been on
19:51
fire the past two years man
19:54
god bless you brother i appreciate that
19:55
that'd be good all right jonathan major
19:57
citizen give it up man make sure y'all
19:59
see it the harder they fall in theaters
20:01
now netflix today watch it up next mike
20:04
muse is coming back if y'all want to get
20:05
adam 888 742-3345
#Arts & Entertainment