IDRIS ELBA REVEALS WHY HE LOST INTEREST IN JAMES BOND

British actor Idris Elba has revealed why he lost interest in the highly coveted James Bond Role. He made his statement during an interview on the smartless podcast.

Idris said he wanted to portray the iconic character until it started becoming about racism. He said “The truth is, I was super complemented for a long time about this [playing the James Bond role]. I was like, ‘This is crazy! James Bond?’ “We are all actors, and we understand that role. It’s one of those coveted roles. Being asked to be James Bond was like, ‘Okay, you’ve sort of reached the pinnacle.’ That is one of those things the whole world has a vote in. It was a huge compliment that every corner of the world, except for some corners, which we will not talk about, were really happy about the idea that I could be considered. Those that weren’t happy about the idea made the whole thing disgusting because it became about race.”

Elba’s name joined the 007 conversation long before Daniel Craig’s last appearance as Bond in No Time to Die (2021), after Sony Pictures executive Amy Pascal stated that she felt “Idris should be the next Bond” in a leaked 2014 email.

Barbara Broccoli, one of the franchise’s lead producers, admitted that Elba had “been part of the conversation”. “Well, we know Idris, I’m friends with him, and he’s a magnificent actor,” she said. “It’s been part of the conversation, but it’s always difficult to have the conversation when you have someone in the seat.”

As of now, the conversation has been put on hold as the film maker takes their time to reinvent the role and the film series.

The role James Bond has been acted by Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and lastly by Craig.