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https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a22737592/why-idris-elba-should-play-james-bond/
A member of a disenfranchised minority isn't exempt from lashing out in racism. And it's actually still not acceptable or justified to be racist in that case.
Had a quick look at it. There are so many wrong things with it: "only" seven years difference between Craig's age when cast and Elba's age (a detail, right?), false equivalence with Connery's age when he did NSNA...
Late in their tenure. Not starting it.
True. In addition, at the pace Eon is going, it could be the better part of a decade before the first post Craig Bond gets underway.
Misread the definition of what?
One of the reasons why I suspect the next Bond actor will be someone nobody has heard of now.
Maybe it's me? ;)
That’s was a very aggravating article to read
I also didn't rate his acting that highly. Nothing to rave about. I'll be happy to mention any scene from the film just to prove I have seen it (just in case anyone thinks I havent't seen the film!).
I think he'd be an awful Bond, as bad as Cavill. If he can pull of some classy acting, actually convince us he'd a sophisticated spy, who knows. He did play Nelson Mandela so that proves he's got acting range, but this guy is not as charming as Connery, or Moore or Brosnan. Sorry, he's too ordinary in acting style. Fair enough, he was playing an American CIA type character but I just don't get the appeal of the guy. He's like a straight to video action hero type of guy. The appeal of Elba is like the appeal of Donald Trump - you either get it or you don't. And I don't. Being as brutally honest as I can be - you need a classier actor to be Bond (accepting that Craig doesn't muster much class, but hey it's all personal opinions!) I guess the classy Bond ended with Brosnan and it's never coming back. I'm not sure Barbara Broccoli really 'gets' James Bond but that's a debate for another thread!
I think all the fuss about Elba being the man to take over is a load of hot air! Perhaps people will forget about him and find some other Bond hopeful to get obsessed about. :P
In my mind there's absolutely 0 chance that Elba will be the next Bond. This is just a silly rumour.
Just google "(actor name) wants to be new Bond" and you'll find tons of those articles. And not one stupid rumour got the same exposure this one got.
Why? Cause people knew they were just that. Silly rumours.
But now....people give this massive attention. And massive attention brings casual people that will say "eh, don't care, why not" . And more people saying "eh, why not" will bring attention to Broccoli who'll think "hey, at least there are some people fine with the idea of a black Bond.
And maybe the 8th Bond or something in the future will be black.
Also...LMFAO, all those 'if you don't like Elba you're racist" arguments. That's like the dumbest argument you can make.
"I don't think Tom Cruise should be Bond" - Eh, fine I get you.
"I don't think Michael Caine should be Bond" - Yeah, makes sense I guess.
"I don't think Idris Elba should be Bond" - WTF YOU MUST BE RACIST THAT'S THE ONLY THING I SEE FROM THIS ARGUMENT YOU ARE CLEARLY BIGOT !!!!!!!!!
The same people that like Elba to be Bond would say "hell no" to the idea of...idk, let's say the next Batman to be portrayed by an actor with down syndrome. Or a guy with long hair. Or a person in a wheel chair. Or a an actor with speech impediment.
Not wanting someone of a certain group to play something he's not doesn't mean you hate what he is.
I don't want Bond to be played by a guy that's 150 cm tall, but that doesn't mean that I hate short people. It means that Bond is not short.
There's absolutely 0 arguments you can make for Bond being portrayed by a black person, and any discussion about this is wrong. Some things are not for discussion. Stop paying attention to the rumours.
And I have to say that I just don't see Elba as Bond at all, and am slightly non-plussed when I read that people think he would make a good Bond. Oh well, each to their own.
"Hear, Hear"
Agree with everything you've said above. And specifically the point about this not being a campaign to have a black Bond for the sake of it, but rather that the casting should be about the best actor for the role, regardless of race.
The reason a lot of people have bigged up Elba is not for the sake of having a black actor but because when you consider him in the role a lot of people feel it would have been a good fit. He's too old now though and it will never happen.
The comment from Anthony Horrowtitz repeated above about Elba being 'too street' is garbage. Fleming doubtless made similarly snobbish comments about Connery, who was a tough working class Scot - pretty much the opposite of Fleming's character on the page. Then Fleming saw Connery on screen, discovered women thought he was hot stuff and saw the money starting to flow into his bank account. Any one who thinks Elba doesn't have the gravitas should watch him in the Wire.
Any way, the role brings with it a lot of gravitas - a decent actor rise to the challenge and fleshes out the role as required. And it's not as if casting a black Bond would be reinventing the literary character for the first time. When EON cast Connery in 1962 they did exactly the same thing. And it changed the character to such an extent that Fleming felt he had to give the literary character a Scottish ancestry. So those banging on about the literary character need to grow up and accept film Bond has been calling the shots on that front for decades.
Lol this is great. :))
If a white actor shouldn't play a black person, why should a black actor play a white person? Okay, the natural reply is "Nelson Mandela was a real person, Bond isn't. Bond is make-believe so he can look and behave how the writers/producers/directors see fit. If a modern Bond is an Idris Elba type of Bond then that's how it is."
Okay, you could argue there is some logic in that counter-argument, but the natural response to that point of view is: "why change Bond? You're just changing Bond, his appearance, his cultural origin, his middle to upper class persona, to suit some politically correct agenda."
It's what happened with Doctor Who. I saw the new showrunner of Doctor Who saying in an interview: "it was time for a female Doctor. Jodie Whittaker was the only choice."
He could have been more honest (!) and said "the show's rating have declined under the last actor, Peter Capaldi, and if they don't improve the BBC might cancel the show. A woman Doctor is a gimmick to attract more attention to the show and hopefully improve the ratings. Plus, we'd like to pull in more female viewers."
My guess is that's the real reason they've cast a woman as the new Doctor.
But back to Elba... imagine he got the part. My guess is he will play it similar-ish to Daniel Craig's Bond? I could be wrong, it's just my guess. Based on his performance in Bastille Day he's not going to be a sophisticated Bond. You can argue Craig isn't a sophisticated type Bond (the anti-Craig brigade would think so and provide evidence, the pro-Craig lot would disagree) but it's reasonable to say Craig's Bond isn't quite as smooth as Connery/Moore or Brosnan's Bond. People accept Craig is a blunter, semi-realistic Bourne-ish type Bond. My prediction is Elba would channel some of Craig's blunt Bond into his performance. You can see the blunt style in his Bastille Day performance. Elba is not a Connery or Moore suave kinda actor. They don't exist anymore and times have moved on. My guess is the suave Bond is regarded as old fashioned in the 21st century internet, social media era. I dunno, post-Brosnan perhaps George Clooney was the last actor to give off the kind of old school suave vibe but he's American so he was never in the race for Bond.
Elba is going to play to his strengths and it's going to be a bit more of a street type Bond. The producers wouldn't try to force him to be like Connery or Moore. They didn't do that with Craig so it's reasonable to assume Elba or another black actor won't play Bond like Cubby's Bond - white, semi-posh, sophisticated hero. The blunt Bond, brought in by Craig, is here to stay and it will be reshaped by the next actor and I can't see the original film version of Bond ever returning. The proof is the clamour for Elba as Bond. There's the proof that people don't want a Sean Connery/Roger Moore or other previous actor type Bond. They want someone more relatable or blunt or 'street'. They want their ethnicity represented in the Bond franchise.
Anthony Horowitz had to apologize for calling Elba too 'street' for Bond but I think he was 100 percent correct in his analysis. He caved in under the weight of social media. He didn't want to come over as racist so he had to say sorry, but I don't believe it is racist to say Elba is too 'street' for Bond when it seems patently obvious Elba does not embody the white Fleming type Bond nor the Cubby Broccoli/Saltzman Bond. It's doubtful another black actor does because the whole concept of Bond (be it Fleming or C Broccoli's Bond) is kind of outdated in the 21st century. After DAD B Brococli and Wilson felt they had to change Bond to keep up with the Bourne franchise and tv's Jack Bauer. When an actor is mentioned to play Bond and you scan the comments section for the reaction, people aren't wanting a Connery or Moore or other previous Bond, they're suggesting their own reinvented version of Bond - hence the appeal of Idris Elba or whoever else is popular at the time. Tom Hardy should be Bond, some say! Why? Cos he's... er famous, that's why.
See what I mean, we all do this. We take the concept of Bond and find some popular guy we like and just go "he should be Bond!" Okay, people here don't do that much but the rest of the internet is full of "I want my popular actor to be Bond!" comments. I doubt there is any historical context, any great understanding of who the cinematic James Bond is, it's just "I want random hot actor to play Bond cos he was good on that tv show or film." My guess is the interest or demand for a black actor is no different.
Connery was too street as well. Terence Young took him under his wing and turned him into screen Bond. It's called directing, costume, make up, lighting, script. Movie making in other words.
Look at Richard Burton - a working class Welsh lad who grew up giving it to the local girls behind the pub - but that's not what came across on screen.
Elba won't be Bond so this is all completely moot, but until each actor actually gets to 'wear the tux' and 'be Bond' you can't ever really tell how good they will be.
Playing Bond is a privilege (due to the fame, fortune and recognition) and also a burden (due to the typecasting that can occur). Either way, it's a career defining role. Each actor who has had this opportunity has stepped up and delivered and I expect Bond #007 to do the same, no matter whether he's black, white, or some other ethnicity.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2018/aug/16/far-righters-james-bond-not-on-your-team-idris-elba
Essentially the point seems to be that the outry over a ‘black Bond’ stems from far-righters seeing Bond as their ‘own’ and wanting to protect it.
I think that is the essence of the point. James Bond is a pretend person. Even when he’s played by a white man, you are still watching an actor playing a pretend person. There isn't really anything to 'protect', it's fictional and if the producers hire a black actor, it's because he was right actor to play a fictional character.
That is also a very good point. The fact that Fleming actually changed Bond's ancestry because of Connery speaks volumes. He was more than willing to change and adapt the character himself.
Heck, I would even believe that if Fleming was alive today writing on his 70th something Bond novel, he would probably be willing to implement some seriously drastic changes to shake up the Bond universe. Even he would accept that the character has to adapt with modern society.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/aug/04/beverley-knight-defends-her-casting-as-emmeline-pankhurst
And your point is?
A historically oppressed minority finally get opportunities and white people start moaning. What's new?
Also, why would anyone base Elba's theoretical performance as Bond on a single performance in Bastille day? Seems like a weird box to put your rationale around.
Elba has already been through this. There was outrage back in 10 when he was cast as a Norse God.
But how can he play a Norse God? Isn't he too street to pull off an ancient Noble God who is as white as they come? He proved them all wrong of course.
The new cologne, Eu de Double Standard.