Idris Elba has been in dozens of hit films, but the role he gets asked about most is one he never played. “I’m not gonna lie,” he said in the most recent episode of The Shop podcast, which is exec produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, “every corner of the world I go — and I’m talking about different cultures — they always go: ‘Bond!’” Elba said pointing his finger in imitation of a fan.
And Elba, despite years of queries, is still willing to address speculation about the role.
“It is not a goal for my career,” the actor said bluntly. “I don’t think that, you know, playing Bond will satisfy some of my personal goals.” But, he said, “It will definitely satisfy the will of a nation,” referencing the legions of fans who would like to see him as 007.
“And I feel it is beyond me at this junction. It’s beyond me. You know, it’s not a question of, ‘Should I?,’ ‘Do I?,’ ‘Will I?,’ it is what the will of the nation dictates sometimes,” he added, before speculating that even just the discussion is a good thing.
“I’m not that guy, but in everyone’s world I might be. And that – job done. Because the truth is, you know, a lot of people are really seeing Idris playing Bond as the ‘alternative Bond.’ And as long as that alternative is existing, that’s great for the growth of f\*cking casting.”
James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli told Deadline exclusively earlier this year that the search for the next star who’ll drive the franchise’s iconic Aston Martin is still far off.
“Nobody’s in the running,” she said. “We’re working out where to go with him, we’re talking that through. There isn’t a script and we can’t come up with one until we decide how we’re going to approach the next film because, really, it’s a reinvention of Bond. We’re reinventing who he is and that takes time. I’d say that filming is at least two years away.”
