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Directing · b. 1979 · London, England, UK
Jeymes Samuel (born 27 July 1979), also known by his stage name The Bullitts, is a British singer-songwriter, music producer, and filmmaker. His debut album, They Die By Dawn & Other Short Stories..., was issued in 2013. The Harder They Fall, released in 2021, was his feature film directorial debut, which won him the 2021 BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer.
Samuel initially embarked on a career in filmmaking, having shot his first reels at the age of eight. However, he began making music at the age of 13.
In 2010, Samuel began uploading "FlixTapes" to YouTube under the pseudonym The Bullitts, named in honour of the 1968 film Bullitt; this was a series of videos in which he added new vocals to his favourite movie and television themes. The first episode, titled "Tales of the Unexpected," was released on November 14, 2010.
"Close Your Eyes," the lead single from his then-upcoming album, premiered in April 2011. The single features narration by American actress Lucy Liu and a verse from American rapper Jay Electronica. Its music video is a re-imagining of the Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel film, Un Chien Andalou. In May 2011, the album's second single, "Landspeeder," was released. "Landspeeder" was later included on the original motion picture soundtrack to the British 2011 slasher film Demons Never Die.
He issued "Weirdo" in July 2011, a short piece starring Jesse Williams. In it, two young lovers in paper-bag masks spend a day on the streets of London before robbing a newsagent during a declaration of love. For the song "Run and Hide" by Jay Electronica, he directed a film noir in Paris, based around the actress Elisa Lasowski. Samuel played at The Big Chill music festival on 6 August 2011; he was joined onstage by Liu, Electronica, and English actor Idris Elba.
In late 2012, he was handpicked by Baz Luhrmann and Jay-Z to be an executive music consultant for the soundtrack to the film The Great Gatsby (2013).
In early 2013, Samuel wrote, directed, and scored the short film titled They Die By Dawn, with an all-star cast that includes Michael K. Williams, Erykah Badu, Isaiah Washington, Jesse Williams, and Rosario Dawson. The film is set in Langston, Oklahoma, in 1890 and is a gun-slinging, black cowboy western. Samuel's first album under the moniker The Bullitts is titled They Die By Dawn & Other Short Stories... and was released on 9 July 2013. The album was produced entirely by himself and features guest appearances from Jay Electronica, Lucy Liu, Mos Def, Rosario Dawson, Doxi Jones, and Tori Amos.
In 2021, he directed and co-wrote The Harder They Fall, a revisionist western starring Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, and RJ Cyler. The film, which was initially titled The Notorious Nine, was in development for several years.
Samuel's older brother is Henry Samuel, better known as Seal. His mother, Adebisi Ogundeji, is Nigerian, and his father, Francis Samuel, is Afro-Brazilian.
Description above from the Wikipedia article The Bullitts, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
