The long running James Bond film series has seen seven different actors portraying the titular character on film. We can agree that for the most part, they were all great and provided us the charisma, charm and thrills that came along with the films. However, with Daniel Craig set to return for Bond 25 under the helm of Danny Boyle, we can expect another great entry in the series but it’s no doubt that Bond may be shifting to another actor in the future.
It’s been noted for some time that Idris Elba would be an amazing Bond and it looks like the people behind the scenes seem pretty open to the idea as well. According to the Daily Star, director Antoine Fuqua recently spoke with James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli about who would take over the Bond mantle once Craig calls it quits. He also asked her about potentially re-casting Bond with a non-white actor.
According to the article, Broccoli revealed to Fuqua that “it is time” for a person of color to play the iconic character and that she is certain that “it will happen eventually”. Fuqua, who directed action films such as Training Day and The Equalizer films seem to believe that Elba would be able to pull it off adding that, “Idris could do it if he was in shape. You need a guy with physically strong presence. Idris has that.”
The first thing to note is that, yeah… he’s not white and casting him would be hilariously progressive since Bond’s early days were riddled with some antiquated traits such as racism and misogyny. Putting the race aspect aside, Elba is no doubt perfect for Bond as he does exude much of the ‘swag’ (can’t believe I said that word) of the character.
Take into account that Broccoli didn’t actually say that Elba is in talks or anything (as far as we know cause this only comes from Fuqua) but it does seem like the idea of Elba taking on the role does seem to be under consideration especially if we’re talking about casting a minority. Elba is one hell of actor having garnered acclaim for his roles in films like Beasts of No Nation and The Jungle Book along with television series like The Wire and Luther. Not to mention, he is suuuper British, so that works too.
Source: Daily Star
