{"id":6745,"date":"2021-12-03T17:00:18","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T22:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=6745"},"modified":"2021-12-03T17:00:18","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T22:00:18","slug":"the-harder-they-fall-qa-with-actor-jonathan-majors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=6745","title":{"rendered":"The Harder They Fall : Q&A with Actor Jonathan Majors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Synopsis<\/strong> : When outlaw Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) discovers that his enemy Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) is being released from prison he rounds up his gang to track Rufus down and seek revenge. Those riding with him in this assured, righteously new school Western include his former love Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz), his right and left hand men–hot-tempered Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi) and fast drawing Jim Beckwourth (R.J. Cyler)–and a surprising adversary-turned-ally. Rufus Buck has his own fearsome crew, including “Treacherous” Trudy Smith (Regina King) and Cherokee Bill (LaKeith Stanfield), and they are not a group that knows how to lose.<\/p>\n

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THE HARDER THEY FALL: JONATHAN MAJORS as NAT LOVE in THE HARDER THEY FALL Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Q&A with Actor Jonathan Majors\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Q: You\u2019ve described it as a spaghetti western. It\u2019s definitely unique in the way it exists in that space. What first drew you to this role? What made you want to sign on board?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: Oh, wow, so many things. The script is probably 123 pages, and the first 13 pages are flashbacks, where you see young Nat, and that\u2019s what got me. It\u2019s the first time I read the script and went, \u201cOh man, I really have to look after this kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was broken down to me that I was potentially going to play the older version of him. When I saw what happened, I saw the violation of it all, and how tall the order was for him to redeem himself, to heal himself from that scar, I was all the way in.<\/p>\n

Then we hear that Jay\u2011Z (producer) is going to be on it. And you hear that Idris Elba was going to be in it. Idris was actually the first actor on the film, so I knew I was jumping in with him. But even then, even then, you want to be particular about it.<\/p>\n

Q: This character is on this revenge crusade for the trauma he experienced as a kid. He\u2019s also a person of complexity, though, in that he is an outlaw, he\u2019s still a criminal, and that\u2019s what he faces in that final scene, the dialogue with Idris. What about the shades of him? How did you hook yourself into that? What was your entry point?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: The final scene, the complexities of Nat \u2014 it\u2019s like the trauma of the moment. One of the ways I really got into trying to understand him and how he operated, and move through the West was the fact that this whole thing happened to him when he was 10 years old. So the same thing that grabbed me and I felt led me to play him was the same thing that was going to push and move him through the story.<\/p>\n

So that Love, leader of this gang, is a 10-year-old. That\u2019s a cheat sheet \u2013 he\u2019s operating from that space, and the fear that he experiences in that moment \u2013 in the taking of his parents \u2014 sticks with him. It\u2019s in his bones, that\u2019s the blood trauma of him.<\/p>\n

And yes, in spite of that, he falls in love with Mary and there\u2019s a whole incredible backstory of that. He finds Jim and Bill, and these guys become running mates. He yells out something about him where Cuffee — Cuffee is an interesting way to look at it, because he doesn\u2019t know Cuffee. Why does he allow this individual into the fold, why is that?<\/p>\n

Well, the whole thing for him is fairness. When you\u2019re ten years old, when someone takes something from you on the football field or the playground, you\u2019re screaming and yelling because it\u2019s not fair-it\u2019s not fair-it\u2019s not fair. We have this deep understanding of justice inside of us, I think, from a very young age, and everything Nat does is in an attempt to make it fair.<\/p>\n

Q: How is that connected to your question? I can\u2019t rob an innocent person in the bank. That ain\u2019t right. But I can rob the motherfuckers who rob him. That makes sense to me. That\u2019s fair. I can\u2019t kill a man in a church \u2014 definitely not Nat, the son of a pastor. But I will, if the money you get to keep you holds to that. I already did my business. That\u2019s fair, that\u2019s even.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So in the final scene, the interesting part is that Nat has to listen. It starts from the beginning. He walks in and \u201cI got \u2018im.\u201d \u201cShoot him, shoot him, shoot him, shoot him, shoot him, shoot him.\u201d Right? But his back is turned. That\u2019s not fair, is it? I can\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

Nat has so much discipline in that. He left his gang, and he left Mary when Rufus Buck was released. Those are the rules. And that\u2019s why I found the scene so interesting, I think.<\/p>\n

There was so much internal annex to a conflict because he knows what he needs to do: just finish it. But he can\u2019t because there is something deeper and stronger and fair in him, and so he has to listen to the story. He has to find all these things out, and when he hears why Rufus did what he did, it sucks, because that lines up with fairness. When you do what you did, you do what I would have done. You do what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n

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Q: Look at the host of roles that you\u2019ve had over the last five or so years \u2014 each one is so different from the next. Do you feel you\u2019re looking for that kind of hook with each role? Is that something that you\u2019re keeping your eye out for when you\u2019re reading a new script, in terms of how you\u2019re going to break it down, what the character is going to look like on screen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: Absolutely. I could say it\u2019s all these strings, but it\u2019s just by the books, you know what I mean? The character\u2019s objective behind all those things. But after all that, there\u2019s this other element. There\u2019s this other thing that, \u201cIs that a girl?\u201d There are all these other elements to it.<\/p>\n

So yeah, I look at a character and I go, what\u2019s the secret? What is the secret that this character is going to offer me? If I spent enough time with you I could figure out what your secret is. And that\u2019s what I attempt to bring to a character: to tell that secret.<\/p>\n

No one would think an outlaw is a gang leader, is a bank robber, operates and thinks like a 10-year-old boy. How many of those hard men do you know in the world? Think about that.<\/p>\n

So the homie sees it and they go \u201cAw man, they turnin\u2019 onto my business.\u201d But I got the cheat sheet, didn’t I? I figured something out, or maybe I\u2019m trying to express or explore something. So within my character I feel like there\u2019s something like that to him. We\u2019re not that complicated, I don\u2019t think. He wants to make it fair. That\u2019s it. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

One of my drama teachers would say, \u201cHow would Jerold Freedman (in North Carolina in the schoolyard) \u2013 How does this character buy a bottle of wine?\u201d Makes it fair.<\/p>\n

Nat Love walks in there and buys a bottle of wine. What is he going to do? \u201cOkay, so who sells the most? Who sells the least?\u201d I know which one he would buy. You could figure it out. You know how that scene would go. Same for all the other guys that I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to play.<\/p>\n

Q: I love the breakdown of that. You mentioned your training, UNCSA, you also went there for undergrad and then you went to grad school at Yale School of Drama.<\/strong> You\u2019ve spoken before about your training being a DE training, something that\u2019s going to break your habits as a performer. Can you expand on that a bit? What place do you hold that foundational training in yourself today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: You step into it now. Here\u2019s the thing about that.
\nThat mantra or mentality only came to me afterwards. I came into NCSA at eighteen, I was delinquent, I got in trouble, I had straightened out, but I was pretty much \u00a0\u2014 the instrument\u2019s very raw at that moment. Everybody, you can try and be as polished as you want to be at 18; it ain\u2019t gonna happen, Jack. It\u2019s just not real. (No disrespect to any brilliant 18-year-olds.)<\/p>\n

So they took all that, and they give you all these constraints — compulsives, rules, get to the end of the line, all these things you learn technically. It\u2019s very helpful. But then there comes a point where it no longer serves you.<\/p>\n

But it no longer serves you because it\u2019s now a part of your subconscious, which means you really would have had to have done it. I\u2019m going to say it one more time: you really would have had to have done that. Anything. You\u2019re playing a sport, you can\u2019t act like you dribble, you\u2019ve gotta dribble and really know how to do it. Driving a car: you can\u2019t pretend to drive a car.<\/p>\n

Q: It\u2019s like a muscle memory, in a way.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: It\u2019s a spirit memory. You see? And that\u2019s the thing about acting training, which [can] get a little crazy.<\/p>\n

So after NCSA, I thought I was hip to it. Something ain\u2019t right yet, you know, like I didn\u2019t feel like I was where I wanted to be as an artist. Sanford Meisner says it takes thirty years to be an actor. I\u2019m 32.<\/p>\n

Then from there, I go to Yale and I go, \u201cOkay, all this\u2026 I got this now. I understand that this is a part of my lifestyle.\u201d Acting, being an actor, being an artist is a lifestyle. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve been untaming. Where it\u2019s like now, you actually know how to fill your instrument up to full capacity, to express yourself. So if you choose not to do that, with your barista, or with your lover or with your friend, that\u2019s on you. You are actually taming yourself.<\/p>\n

You sat in the class — similar to this — with your shoes off, and cried and breathed to work all this crap out, to be able to do that. So the journey at Yale was very much \u2013 I was really having my heart go, the whole time I was there, for multiple reasons. But primarily because I was doing it right, you know what I mean?<\/p>\n

I think you have to rage against the machine as an artist. It\u2019s just a part of it. That first machine is the society that you grew up in, and the constraints you put on yourself as an artist. As a young black man from Texas; as a young father. All these things. There\u2019s all these constraints I put on myself and you have to contain all those things.<\/p>\n

So I guess, in a nutshell, what I\u2019m getting at and what I hope actors that do decide to go the training route \u2013 which I did, so I can advocate for it \u2013 but if you don\u2019t go, there still has to be a balance. There has to be some type of balance, and the plays will give you that.<\/p>\n

The plays will give you that. If you do it properly \u2013 if you do an August Wilson properly, if you do a Shakespeare properly, don\u2019t be all artsy-fartsy before you\u2019re ready. Just stick to the iambic pentameter and get that shit down, and go on about your business.<\/p>\n

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THE HARDER THEY FALL (L to R): DELROY LINDO as BASS REEVES, JONATHAN MAJORS as NAT LOVE, DANIELLE DEADWYLER as CUFFEE, EDI GATHEGI as BILL PICKETT, and RJ CYLER as JIM BECKWOURTH in THE HARDER THEY FALL Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q: In terms of this film, with obviously such a star ensemble, you have so many great actors. You shared the screen with some of them before. You\u2019ve spoken before about the process of acting. It really is just about you and the person that you\u2019re acting with, and it\u2019s about forfeiting or surrendering the unnecessary in a way. How do you build that with new collaborators? What is that relationship like on set? When you\u2019re acting opposite Regina King for the first time, what kind of dialogue do you find it\u2019s going to be on the day?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: I\u2019d say a wild animal doesn\u2019t need to be taught how to be a wild animal. I think to the point of what we were saying beforehand, Regina King don\u2019t need collaboration. Not from me, at least. I\u2019ll give two answers for that.<\/p>\n

One is, you keep an open dialogue, know your work, always know the script, know your character. The cheat sheet is that your character is only your character because someone else is there. I\u2019m only an actor right now because you\u2019re a moderator. If you\u2019re not here, I\u2019m just some fella. Unless all you guys are here. You\u2019re so dependent on who you\u2019re in the room with, so that idea activates a certain moment of vulnerability.<\/p>\n

And then the other part is, open heart, open throat, for the\u00a0 times, all the time. If you show up, that love has to show up, and that love can only show up if I\u2019m showing up fully. And then the collaboration can start. A lot of things don\u2019t need to be discussed, in my opinion. Actors have different processes.<\/p>\n

Like my friend over here. We did a film together, another ensemble, different group from these guys. When we had to talk, we had to talk. It was like a moment. It was like, get in here, let\u2019s figure this shit out.<\/p>\n

But for the most part, what we do as actors is so \u2013 I don\u2019t like it to be so bold sometimes. I can talk craft; I can say that\u2019s literally not how that goes. Other times it\u2019s like \u201cOh, I didn\u2019t know that.\u201d But usually when you\u2019re \u201chuh-uh\u201d, it\u2019s because that artist or that actor is being very tame in themselves. They\u2019re not being full.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m saying that for myself, too. If I\u2019m off the mark, it\u2019s because I\u2019m tight in some way. I\u2019m trying to control something in some way. So the training gave me techniques to go \u201cJust release that.\u201d I know how to release that. I know I\u2019m angry about the barista \u2014 I don\u2019t know why I\u2019m talking about this barista so much \u2014 I know I\u2019m angry about this barista, so let me just unclench this, breathe, and go about my business.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s how we worked on \u201cThe Harder They Fall.\u201d Everyone was very open. Playing Nat, it is important to lead by example. Everybody is free.<\/p>\n

I will say this, though: it\u2019s not a safe space on a set. It shouldn\u2019t be that way. It should be secure. You should feel secure. But you should not feel safe. It\u2019s a different thing there. If I get with Regina King, if I try and make her feel safe, I\u2019m dealing with her, and I\u2019m not dealing with us.<\/p>\n

Safe is, okay, I\u2019m not going to let you fall. Secure is, you can fall, I can fall, but we\u2019ll both get back up. It\u2019s a slight difference. But for me, only in that second iteration can we really make anything happen.<\/p>\n

Q: So you\u2019re still going to dangerous places emotionally?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: It\u2019s the only place to go. Otherwise it\u2019s pretty boring, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Q: Tell us about the physicality of the character. You\u2019ve spoken about the gun slinging and the horseback riding. What kind of training or prep work went into finding how this person moves in the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: Well, cowboy boots are quite important. Half the swagger comes from the cowboy boots. And in the coat. And that was it.<\/p>\n

Yeah, the boots. The boots are a tightrope wire because they are connected to the ground. And you also ride the horse with the boots, and all these things. It\u2019s the accoutrements of the wardrobe. So that was really important, always important, extremely important to me from that.<\/p>\n

And he walked around with 12 pounds, thereabouts, on his body. Between his firearms, his hidden firearms, he\u2019s weighed down. We should talk about the horseback riding, and the stunts in that way.<\/p>\n

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Q: Did you do any of your own stunts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: I did all the stunts. And I did all the stunts so that at some point I could sit here with you and say I did all the stunts.<\/p>\n

But why? Why was that important to me? Because it does something to your body. To be able to move like that, on the horse, you have to be open in a certain way. And when you open up in that way, your voice reacts in a certain way. Your face changes.<\/p>\n

I think it becomes a lot simpler when you do the doing. Those who don\u2019t know: if you do the doing, it becomes easy. It takes some work to get there. I broke my heel \u2013 which, if you\u2019ve ever broken your heel, you\u2019re fucked. You know you can\u2019t really do anything about it. So you just sit there. So it happens.<\/p>\n

I did the weekends with Cinco, who\u2019s my horse, and I love that he’s my scene partner for most of the film. You saw we were together the whole time, really. And what it takes, the aggression it takes to ride a horse like that.<\/p>\n

I remember in the final sequence, we were going, and then Cinc wouldn\u2019t go. Cinc just wouldn\u2019t go. I was like [whispers] \u201cOh, Cinco, come on, man. This is it. Cinco, this is it, this is it, this is it. Come on, man, don\u2019t. C\u2019mon.\u201d And then the stunt guy walked up and he said, \u201cJust let him know. Just let him know. Let him know you need him.\u201d<\/p>\n

I walked over to him and said \u201cCinco? We need to go, buddy. This is it.\u201d I galloped him and moved him around a little bit, and we went.<\/p>\n

The camera operator went from here [gestures] to here in the middle of the shot. When we started, I was coming down [ride, ride, ride], comin\u2019 comin\u2019 comin\u2019. And right where I needed Cinc to go, and I had him go [ride], and that\u2019s what\u2019s in the film. The scene goes whooom! and hits a gear. We\u2019re off. And I go, \u201cThere he is.\u201d And not me, is that love, there\u2019s Cinco. That\u2019s the movie. Now we got it.<\/p>\n

That certain amount of aggression, that certain amount of need, was connected to Mary, who\u2019s on the other side of that. And I was saying, \u201cI don\u2019t want to give him too much. I\u2019m not a small guy. I don\u2019t want to just\u2026\u00a0 He\u2019s ready. He\u2019s a stunt guy. He\u2019s tough for it. He\u2019s tougher than me.\u201d So I said \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll give it to him\u201d, and we go.<\/p>\n

Q: We learn how the horse rides. <\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nJM: The guys say a lot of whiskey, a lot of cigarillos, but that\u2019s how it goes.<\/p>\n

Q: You got pretty Method with the whiskey and \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: Well, I had to try it, because nicotine is a hell of a drug. And so\u2019s whiskey. But why was that important? Because, again, that ten-year-old boy, right? What does it mean? Why does he do that? Why does he need to drink? I don\u2019t condone it, I don\u2019t ingest it.<\/p>\n

But I would say that when that love is necessary, there to straighten my own [shit], It was never written that he smoked, it was never written where he smoked. Literally, if I felt myself idle too high — light matches, which is not easy, I\u2019ve been there.\u00a0 And that\u2019s an integral part of his iconography and his emotional landscape.<\/p>\n

Q: You have a lot of things coming up. You were in \u201cWhen We Rise\u201d five years ago, knowing We\u2019re going to see a lot more of you. It\u2019s great to see where everything has led so far,\u00a0Thinking back to those early days as a professional actor, what is something you would have liked to know in those early days that you would tell your younger self? <\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nJM: I\u2019d say two things. I\u2019d say, one, oh this mentality that I had around that time \u2014 and still have \u2014 is \u201cDon\u2019t audition.\u201d Just don\u2019t do it. When you go in there, it\u2019s not an audition. You know your words, this is your coverage, you\u2019re up. If they\u2019re lucky, they\u2019ll put it in the movie. But you have got to work it to that degree.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re going to hurt. This is not a comfortable job, really, not for the spirit, not for your heart. It\u2019s gonna hurt, and it can hurt now, or it can hurt later. It just depends on when you want to take the lick. Hurting now means you take the time it takes to prepare yourself to be the best you can be \u2014 literally, the best you can be, for that role on that day.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the audition. That\u2019s not the audition’s coverage.<\/p>\n

And then the other thing I would say, to my five-years-ago self \u2014 which is something I just realized it really just keeps everything calm and even: you don\u2019t have to do it all at once. It\u2019s quite overwhelming if you think of doing something all at once. Anything.<\/p>\n

I do have a habit of memorizing the entire film script before we go to work. But that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n

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THE HARDER THEY FALL: ZAZIE BEETZ as MARY FIELDS in THE HARDER THEY FALL. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX \u00a9 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q: Did you feed Regina lines to this film when she\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JM: I\u2019m not bullshitting, if somebody went up, I could tell them \u2013 and they knew it. Which is why no one went up.<\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t have to do it all at once. Any of it. I do that for my own little neuroses, but it\u2019s such a relief when I get to work and I go \u201cOh, right, it\u2019s just an eighth of a page today. That\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

I already feel hurt because of it. But now you can play and have fun, and do all that cool stuff you think you want to do. But yeah, you can do all that once you\u2019ve put the work in. But understand that you shouldn\u2019t do it all at once. That goes for everything.<\/p>\n

Q: One day at a time. <\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nJM: Shit, one scene at a time. One page at a time. One foot at a time. One sip of Bull at a time. As present as you can be. It keeps you calm, keeps you easy. You need that. It\u2019s a long road.<\/p>\n

Here’s the trailer of the film.<\/strong><\/p>\n