Beyonce and Jay-Z in surprise London Film Festival appearance

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Beyonce and Jay-Z were surprise London Film Festival appearance for The Harder They Fall premiere tonight.

Jay-Z and Beyonce made a surprise appearance on the red carpet at the opening night of London Film Festival to support new Idris Elba and Regina King western The Harder They Fall.

The rapper, who is a producer on the Netflix movie – directed by Jeymes Samuels – took to the red carpet with his superstar wife at the Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday night.

Beyonce then posted a series of images of her trip to London on her Instagram page, showing the couple in their hotel and then making their way to the star-studded premiere.

The couple have not been in London for a number of months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The couple were in Europe in late summer, enjoying some time sailing around the Mediterranean on Jeff Bezos’s superyacht with their three children.

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• Full Trailer: “The Harder They Fall”

Speaking on the red carpet on Wednesday night, Jay-Z – real name Shawn Carter – said he was proud to be part of a movie that represented the black community.

The Harder They Fall tells a fictional story based on real-life figures and black cowboys from American history.

They include outlaw Rufus Buck, played by Idris Elba, Treacherous Trudy Smith, played by Regina King, Stagecoach Mary, played by Zazie Beetz, and Nat Love, depicted by Jonathan Majors.

The Harder They Fall premiere, London Film Festival

Arriving at the world premiere at the Royal Festival Hall on the opening night of the BFI London Film Festival, Carter said: “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.

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

“These 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.”

Elba says he hopes to draw attention to the real historical figures who inspired the movie.

“It’s really interesting that these characters really existed one time. No-one ever knows about them.A

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

Director Jeymes Samuel said black people have been “erased” from the western genre throughout history, adding: “It’s really important, because if you take a piece of history away, it’s a domino effect, it affects all history.

“There’s so much scope to these stories, I don’t know why they weren’t being made.”

The BFI London Film Festival runs until October 17. The Harder They Fall is released in select cinemas on October 22, and on Netflix from November 3.