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He'd have every reason to be cocky if he had been as consistently successful as he has been in The Wire (or even Luther which I didn't like).
With regard to him playing Bond - Elba has said:
I can't imagine Pierce Brosnan being interviewed during his Remington Steele era or in the 1990s and saying about becoming Bond:
He didn't say that because he's a bit more mature than Elba.
Perhaps a bit of modesty, even false modesty, is better than silly bravado.
I don't get why Elba is seen as this great, suave, tough actor. His biggest break was in The Dark Tower. A film that tanked so badly I doubt anyone even noticed the guy. Sure, the box office can be cruel and you can't force people to see films, but even so, let's not hype this guy as the next Sean Connery (with black skin), because, with due respect, I ain't seeing it. And no-one watching The Dark Tower saw it or if they did their number was so small it makes no difference. Elba should live in the real world and that is not on Twitter posting silly images of his head and saying "The name is Elba, Idris Elba." Any geeky fan can do that and it's not going to impress Barbara Broccoli.
I predict we get another four year gap.
I see people highlighting the dark tower, yes, it was far from great but meanwhile, Craig hasn't had a major hit film ever since he became Bond. Flashbacks of a fool, Cowboys & Aliens, TGWTDT, Defiance, Logan Lucky, Dream House...his films don't even break even. I like Craig as Bond, particularly his first 2 outings; he's my favourite after Connery but outside of Bond he has no real star power, an attribute that many here keep throwing around like it's some critical pre-requisite.
Good point
Yes Elba does seem to be having fun with the whole notion. It's others who are kicking up the fuss despite the fact he has no chance of being Bond and never did.
Still the Toronto Sun, yesterday ran a story that they picked up somewhere, rehashing the latest Elba-Bond blather.
We readers learn that oddsmakers have Elba as the lead candidate to succeed Craig.
Really. Who knew.
In the journo vernacular - file under Fake News.
====Personally, I think Bond will be always cast in the Fleming established look and ethnicity.
This has held true for over 60 years, for 26 films, 60 books, not to mention comics, games, toys.
This is who Bond is. He is instantly recognizable.
This will only change, if the films, which drive the brand more than anything, suddenly start tanking.
Then as I said earlier, all bets are probably off. The rights become less valuable and might get scattered about, to be interpreted in any artful direction.
Until such time, Bond shall stay as he is. Even Craig is close enough, and even then his look is just a tad off, but not his ethnicity.
ie Craig could sub for Rog in LALD, but Elba couldn't.
I think it's counter-productive. I can't see how this sort of promotion will help his cause. It is promotion, free publicity for Elba. There's that old saying "no such thing as bad publicity" but I'm not so sure. I think too much publicity about an actor can backfire. My gut feeling is Barbara Broccoli will read some of the new online coverage about Elba and think "I'm bored reading this. The next Bond actor won't get free publicity because I will choose an unknown. I don't want to cast an actor so obviously marketing himself as the next Bond."
If the media (or Elba or his agent or someone in the industry?) keep pushing his name I think it will or has backfired. Why - because
A) Daniel Craig is the current James Bond. The producers may feel it's a tad disrespectful for Elba or his supporters to keep pushing him when Craig hasn't even started his final film.
B) He comes over as desperate for the role. Okay, some people argue he's just responding to interviews or media interest and there may be some truth to that, but this is the guy that said
and
The will of the nation? What, like 65 million people of the UK want him to be Bond? Oh please. The Brexit vote was the will of the nation. A few people on Twitter or Facebook or on "I love Idris Elba" fan sites is not the will of the nation. :D Please put it into perspective, Idris. His ego is in overload mode!
In some recent interviews Elba has said he's too old for the part but I don't believe him. I think he wants the role, is desperate for the role (along with Cavill and Turner!). The three desperate outlaws trying to hound Daniel Craig's Bond out of town! ;)
I think it might hurt him. When your last big movie project turned out to be an epic flop and you do like you're the best thing since sliced bread, you can come off as arrogant. When was Idris Elba last praised as a great actor? Not a good one, not an OK one, not one when he used his charisma but nothing else, but one role when he showed range and complexity? I'd say it's when he played Stringer Bell in The Wire. Not exactly yesterday.
Anyway, I just found this (tweeted by David Bowie's son) and thought it perfect for this thread. ;)
Good post. I’ve been making the same point about Craig for years - he never was and is still not an actor who can successfully headline a major film outside of Bond. He even managed to tank TGWTDT, which should have been a licence to print money. He actually isn’t all that charismatic and he’s a moderately good, not top notch screen actor. And he’s actually arguably better suited to supporting character roles than leading man. He lucked up big time when Babs chased him for Bond and I think belatedly he has come to realise that, which is why he decided to do a fifth movie. After Bond his career will whither rather quickly I think - much more so than Brosnan’s.
Having said that I like him well enough as Bond.
Elba does run the risk of just becoming the “black guy who should have been Bond” which combines failure and disappointment - these connotations might not help his career in the long term.
Aside from ethnicity, perhaps the biggest difference between Elba (of the last few years) and Craig (in the years leading up to 2005) is Craig never mentioned playing the role. Nobody knew a great deal about Craig, he was doing his acting thing and no-one mentioned him as a potential Bond. Craig got the part - people reacted with "that's a surprise!" and the rest is history. Front forward into the 2010s decade and Elba is touted as the next Bond, he can't help but mention it or deny it (but he still likes the attention!).
My long winded point (!) is the internet may break some actors' chances of becoming James Bond. The internet was around when Brosnan was removed and the search was on for his replacement. Craig didn't get any media attention, he crept up from behind and said "da naa!, here I am!" ;) and the internet media machine was too late. They couldn't over-expose him. Elba is the complete opposite - he has the internet media machine backing him, promoting him, over-exposing him and I suspect this is the main reason he'll never get the part (accepting his age not ideal).
If Bond is to become black then I'm going with an unknown black actor. He's probably doing theatre work or limited film work. I can't think of any other black actor mentioned for Bond. Well, the only one I've read about is David Oyelowo:
but he's not got a particularly Bond type looking face and he's on the short side - 5ft 7.
An unknown actor with a stronger look and good height could be out there, waiting for his break. He wouldn't be over-exposed and that has to be a huge advantage.
Found this on The Guardian website:
I do recall reading that he turned down the offer. It wasn't a maybe, it was a no. I remember a comment he made that he didn't want to do the role because he didn't feel 'Bond' was for him. I suppose it's one of those "if I don't do it, will I live to regret it?" moments in your life. I can't blame any actor for saying no and then changing their mind.
The best person for the job will never be black, because there simply aren't enough black actors to compete with the plethora of suitable white candidates.
That isn't racism, that's the truth of the matter. Everyone bangs on about Idris Elba, but I bet none of those who are gasping for him to be Bond actually went to see his last two movies at the cinema.
Here's the thing, I have no problem with a black actor playing the role of James Bond. However, i don't think any black British actor could play the role. In fact, I'd lump Oyelowo with the likes of James McAvoy or Ewan McGregor. They all seem rather pleasant but none have that 'x factor' to distinguish them from the pack.
I think you need to find the right actor; regardless of their race, class or background. You just need to find the right guy for the job.
Thinking of it, why isn't class an issue when casting Bond? Katie Hopkins's justification of Idris's unsuitability comes down to the fact that James Bond is an upper-class toff who went to Eton and Cambridge. Therefore, this notion is inherently "white" and must be preserved by all costs.
But Sean Connery was working class, Roger Moore was working class and Daniel Craig Craig was working class. Pierce Brosnan was an irish immigrant (at a time where the reputation of the nation was not what it is now) and George Lazenby was a (heaven forbid) an Australian cars salesman.
If we cast Bond according to Katie Hopkins's interpretation of the character, shouldn't the role instantaneously rule out all the people who previously got the gig?
Or is her haphazard justification, just a long-winded way of saying "white"? Her video is vulgar, she's essentially saying that Bond is a character that preserves a bygone era that is fast eroding and must be protected by any means. This is just another way of saying "Make America Great Again". I encourage people to read more on dog-whistle racism.
She's saying you're unpatriotic if you're not racist or bigoted.
Amazing how actors' fortunes can turn on a dime. I've just discovered that a parent in my daughter's class is an actress and shared the lead in a movie with an A-list actor. It was a small budget movie (well reviewed) but the other actor was (still is) a world famous Hollywood A-lister. That was ten years ago. She's now a housewife doing kids ballet classes.
Posititive discrimination is inverted racism?
The BBC introduced positive discrimination. They introduced a rule around 2014 that all tv panel quiz shows - QI, Have I Got News For You etc - must have one woman on the panel. In the past the shows had all men panels. The BBC deemed this to be sexist, discriminatory.
In the context of Bond, casting a black actor would seem like positive discrimination? You could argue that. What if other Bond actors were as competent as Elba or slightly more suitable, but they're dismissed because EON's decided on casting a black actor. As mentioned by NicNac, the pool of black British actors is much smaller than white British actors.
I don't think Elba's current appeal is similar to Brosnan's Bond appeal back in the 80's/90s. Brosnan was not part of the A list film community prior to the role but I think his potential as the number one choice for the part was not overstated. Many people had seen Brosnan on tv and film and realized the guy had serious potential. Elba's appeal is probably overstated and driven by minority groups wanting black representation in a major spy franchise.
If you look at the box office of the last major American films where Elba was the main lead - The Dark Tower and The Mountain Between Us - he's not broken through into mainstream box office appeal. Based on actual film star popularity I don't think Elba will bring any extra box office to Bond. In this regard a complete unknown black actor isn't any more of a risk than going with Elba. Daniel Craig wasn't known as a box office star before Bond and his Bond films have brought in the big bucks.
When I say there aren't enough black candidates it's because Hollywood has discriminated since the year dot. Occasionally they may throw the odd crumb (Will Smith in MIB), but all major opportunities in franchises go to white actors.
When they cast 30 something year old, 6 ft 5 inch Jack Reacher they could have perhaps cast a black actor then. Maybe Elba would have been ideal, who knows? Nope, they went for 50 something year old, 5 ft 6 inch Tom Cruise. Because he's box office.
Hollywood continues to fail black actors and its ignored by everybody.
Because the comic books say that Superman is white, and Captain America, and Spiderman.
And TV has dictated that Napoleon Solo is white.
And Speilberg has dictated that Indiana Jones is white.
But Bond who is also a white character seems to be fair game for re-casting as a black man.
I can't really see the issue if both Moneypenny and Felix were black in Bond becoming black.
I'm not saying the next Bond actor should be black, but ethnic actors shouldn't be discounted from the conversation merely because their skin colour is different from the other guys who played the role.
I think the general assumption from people is that Idris is the right guy for the part. Obviously, everything is subjective but there is general consensus that if there is going to be an ethnic actor playing the part, there is a perfect option awaiting.
Thank you for proving my point and disproving Katie Hopkins.
We live in a modern Britain where class and wealth are not defined by the colour of your skin. If we are like Katie Hopkins and believe that we need to hold on to old ideas of Britain as an imperialistic and fundamentally white power, then we're destined to be as toxic as she is.
With the Bond character and however long the franchise continues, through another century and much more social change let's say, ideally he remains a white heterosexual male to link him across time to origins in the Cold War and to his creator Ian Fleming. And to all previous versions of OO7. While he becomes more unique to contemporary society, even.
But I won't fall on my sword if that path isn't followed.
Lol.
Considering black actors = racist
Utterly segregating black actors from a role = not racism
Me thinks you've misread the definition, sir.
Racism is prejudice plus power. You might be an intolerant person and part of a minority group but it'll be difficult to truly embed racist values if you're already a disenfranchised minority group.
I feel a black Bond probably won't happen though. Not in today's political climate.
A few years ago, the rather innocuous and innocent idea of women playing Ghostbusters caused a stir (God knows why). Since then, we've had Brexit and Trump. Our supposed more understanding society has been exposed as a facade and racists finally feel empowered enough to speak up. Their latent prejudices can finally be voiced and they feel comfortable. I mean, there are literally Nazi rallies taking place in 2018. Seriously.
I don't think Eon want to politicise their series overtly. The last thing they want is for Bond to become the talking point for all the wrong reasons. It wouldn't be a sound commercial choice. They'd probably take the bait if Idris Elba was available - but he's too old to commit to the franchise and probably to big a star. The last thing they need is for the thing to become a media firestorm. They'd get a ton of press but it'll just divide their market and it'll stop being about the film and just become a piece on Fox News and CNN. There's been enough puff pieces in the Huffington Post just covering the Idris rumours.
Eon hate risks. They always have and in over 40 years have not really led the way and have only followed. If DC cast a black Superman or Batman, then Eon would follow. They don't want to be first.
So I think the dream of a black Bond probably died about 4/5 years ago. Social media, right-wing trolls and liberal snowflakes have killed the idea.