Beyonce and Jay Z delight fans with surprise appearance at The Harder They Fall premiere

Jay Z serves as producer on the Netflix western starring Idris Elba and Regina King

Beyonce and Jay Z made a surprise appearance on the red carpet at London Film Festival this week for the premiere of Netflix western The Harder They Fall.

Jay Z served as a producer on the movie – which was directed by Jeymes Samuels and stars Idris Elba and Regina King – and also features on a song from the soundtrack.

Beyonce shared a series of photos on Instagram showing her in a black dress ahead of the event, and later in the car on the way to the premiere with Jay Z.

The Harder They Fall is based on real-life figures from American history, and follows an outlaw who reunites with his old gang in a quest for revenge.

Jay Z said he wanted to get involved in the film because of its representation of Black people.

“Just to see us represented, you know, with a lot of films we didn’t see ourselves in westerns, as if we didn’t exist,” he told the Press Association.

“It is almost odd, people think that it’s like a caricature, that they are playing roles, but they’re not playing roles.”

He added: “Those names like ‘Stagecoach Mary’, all the actors in this, they really existed in this time, so just see us represented and see that we have voices.”

“There were so many towns that people didn’t know about, so to bring interesting stories to the big screen, and also educate, any time you can do that is just a blessing.”

“It’s really interesting that these characters really existed one time. No-one ever knows about them,” Elba said on the red carpet.

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“Any western fan would be like ‘Really? I never heard of Rufus Buck’ but he was a real guy so it’s very special.”

The Harder They Fall is released in cinemas on 22 October and on Netflix on 3 November