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and grey hooded sweatshirt, he’s a thoughtful and engaging presence. “You know, he’s the ringmaster… Something has been done to him that is extremely violating and unfair. This 10-year-old boy then spends the rest of his life trying to make things fair. The ultimate act of doing that is executing his own bully.”
Majors grew up in Texas and has always had a soft spot for westerns. He made his feature-film debut in one - Scott Cooper’s brutal drama Hostiles in 2017. While The Harder They Fall is not a biopic, the actor turned to history to try to glean as much as he could about Love. He read the cowboy’s impressively titled autobiography, Life And Adventures Of Nat Love, Better Known In The Cattle Country As ‘Deadwood Dick,’ By Himself, over and over again. “I really treated the film like a missing chapter from that book. Anyone who’s familiar with it, understands how extraordinary and hyperbolic that book is because he really mythologised himself, which is crazy.”
The film shines a light on the existence of Black cowboys in the Old West and how their stories have been ignored by Hollywood. Majors hopes that The Harder They Fall will inspire more authenticity when it comes to onscreen diversity. “We don’t have any stoic, hardened western archetypes,” he says. “We have human beings living in the West, who are moving through the world with Black bodies. Adding that to the canon is important. Hopefully we can usher in even more projects in that way. Black astronauts, Black scuba divers… We can open it all up once we say: ‘Hey, it’s OK to tell the truth.’”
Majors, who was born in Lompoc, California, discovered acting during a troubled period in his life. His father had left when he was a child, leaving his mother, who is now a pastor, to fend for him and his two siblings. As a teenager, he was caught shoplifting Christmas presents for his family. Soon after, he was suspended from high school after getting into a fight with a classmate who had teased him about his dad. A teacher suggested he try theatre. It promptly set him on a new path.
“It served as a refuge in moments, but ultimately it’s more of a deep drive,” he says. “Acting serves as a compass for me. It gives me purpose. When I first came into contact with this compass, I had a tank full of gas and a heavy foot with no direction. Acting said: ‘Go that way!’ It always demands the best and the worst part of you, and mixes it up. With each role, it allows me to express something in myself that I didn’t know I needed to work out or I’ve been afraid to.”
He bagged his first big role as a gay rights activist in ABC’s powerful miniseries When We Rise when he was still at Yale. But it was his astonishing performance as Montgomery, a sensitive aspiring playwright, in The Last Black Man In San Francisco that singled him out as one to watch. Joe Talbot’s soulful indie film delivers a tender portrayal of Black male friendship as it explores the city’s gentrification. “I was very blessed to be invited to that party,” says Majors. “It emboldened me to really express my artistry.”
A lot of the actor’s work grapples with the complexities of Black masculinity. Along with The Last Black Man In San Francisco, he has also appeared in Da 5 Bloods, helmed by his mentor Lee, playing David, the son of a Black Vietnam War veteran. As Lovecraft Country’s Atticus, a former soldier travelling around racially segregated America in the 1950s, he battles against the injustice of racism as well as supernatural monsters. “I’m Black,” he says. “I’ve been Black for the last 32 years. It’s my perspective. I will say, I’m not just
advocating for my culture, which I am, or [just] advocating for fighting against racism, which I am. My agenda and my mission is to tell the truth from my perspective.”
Majors’ profile is set to get even bigger with Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, the third instalment of Marvel’s miniature hero franchise. Kang the Conqueror, a timehopping tyrant, is being lined up as the MCU’s next major supervillain after Thanos finally got his comeuppance in Avengers: Endgame. Loki, the Disney+ series about our favourite Asgardian trickster, introduced Majors in the pivotal role of one of Kang’s many variants, He Who Remains, whose introduction – and death – in the finale unleashes multiversal chaos.
The actor reveals he was cast as He Who Remains/Kang the Conqueror without an audition. Although he’s not entirely sure which of his performances sparked the studio’s interest. “I guess after The Last Black Man In San Francisco,” he speculates. “I can’t say it was that film at all. The Marvel team have their ways. It’s very much like getting a role in drama school. They’re just watching. You don’t audition for roles. You get into drama school, then the dean will watch what you’re doing. If they wanted you, you get tapped. That’s kind of what happened.”
As talk turns to Kang, a friendly yet guarded smile goes up, with Majors batting away further questions with the dexterity of a nimble tennis pro. How different is Kang to He Who Remains? “Every character is different.” What has it been like shooting Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania? “It’s
Majors’ career has taken off quickly since is 2017 debut, with roles in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, MCU series Loki, Joe Talbot’s The Last Black Man In San Francisco and HBO series Lovecraft Country (across left, top to bottom). wicked. I can’t wait for people to see it. Come on, bring it!” he laughs. Were you daunted by the multi-film possibilities of joining the MCU? “You can only do one film at a time.”
He’s far more forthcoming about Creed III, another one of his upcoming projects. It will be Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut, with Sylvester Stallone bowing out of the third part of the Rocky spin-off. Majors’ role is yet to be announced, but he’s rumored to be playing Adonis Creed’s next opponent in the ring.
“I signed on after a FaceTime with Michael,” he says. “What I felt from speaking with him was a willingness to collaborate, to make something special, to sacrifice our bodies, our time, our energy, to tell a story that would add to the sports genre. But to really work hand-in-hand to build this thing, to show that two, quote unquote, leading men can get together and there is no competition, just cooperation - that is something I want to be an advocate for in my generation. We’re still working on the script.”
As the buzz grows around him, Majors is keeping his head down, concentrating on what matters - that’s the acting, always the acting. “One of the things that I’ve really tried to do for myself is avoid a comparative mind. I don’t look at other cats my age and go: ‘What they doing?’ That would make me crazy and probably contaminate my work. I know it would.”
A huge part of staying focused is maintaining a nomadic lifestyle free from unnecessary distractions. “A lot of times, a good acting scene is subtraction,” he explains. “I don’t have a home. I don’t participate in a lot of things. That’s by design. That subtraction allows me to be more myself, allows me to use myself to make other people.” Majors leans back with a grin, the relaxed smile of someone shining brightly on his own terms. “I mean, that’s just my take on it.”
THE HARDER THEY FALL PREMIERES AT THE LONDON FILM FESTIVAL ON 6 OCTOBER, COMES OUT IN SELECT CINEMAS FROM 22 OCTOBER AND STREAMS ON NETFLIX ON 3 NOVEMBER.
‘WITH EACH ROLE, IT ALLOWS ME TO EXPRESS SOMETHING IN MYSELF THAT I DIDN’T KNOW I NEEDED TO WORK OUT OR I’VE BEEN AFRAID TO’