CONCRETE COWBOY
Idris Elba + Caleb McLaughlin Riding Horses
Admit it, you’d watch British actor Idris Elba just ride a horse for an hour and a half. And put Clifford “Method Man” Smith (the east coast hip hop artist and actor known for the Wu Tang Clan, Power Book II: Ghost, and turning on your aunt) up on horseback beside Elba and you’ve got a must-watch event.
In the new Netflix film Concrete Cowboy, Harp (portrayed by Elba) rides around the streets of Philadelphia as a member of a Black riding club based on the real Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club. The film centers on Harp’s son, Caleb McLaughlin (best known as Lucas Sinclair in Netflix’s Stranger Things) as Cole, a Detroit teenager who goes to live with his estranged father in Philadelphia.
Method Man is Leroy, a former rider who is now a cop, but remains interested in his old club. But he isn’t the only former riding club member in the movie. Also costaring is Jharrel Jerome (an Emmy winner for the Ava DuVernay miniseries When They See Us) as Smush, Cole’s cousin and a former club member who is now involved in a gang (and with drugs).
Also hitching a ride in the ensemble are Byron Bowers (the comedian best known to film audiences as Percy in Honey Boy) as Rome, and Lorraine Toussaint (of Hudson Hawk, Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, and Lifetime’s Any Day Now) as Nessie.
This is the feature film directorial debut for Ricky Staub. He co-wrote the screenplay with the film’s producer Dan Wasler, who was also a producer on Staub’s acclaimed 2017 short film The Cage. Staub became aware of the real life Philadelphia black riding club when he saw a member on horseback in the city. With Wasler, he adapted the script from the novel Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri, about a fictionalized version of the club.
In addition to acting, Elba also has a Producer credit for the film. Lee Daniels (Precious, and Fox’s Empire TV series) also has a producer credit, and his production company Lee Daniels Entertainment assisted with the movie.
After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, Concrete Cowboy will be available for streaming on Netflix starting April 2, 2021.
