Idris Elba responds to backlash over casting as a black James Bond

Idris Elba has been one of the hottest contenders to take over the role of the Secret Service Agent when Daniel Craig departs after 2020’s Bond 25.

But he has confirmed he hasn’t been offered the role of James Bond in a candid interview in the August issue of Vanity Fair.

The Luther actor, 46, who smoldered in a sizzling shoot for the fashion bible, also admitted he feels ‘disheartened’ when some people claim 007 ‘can’t be’ played by a black actor.

Confirming he was not in the running, the star said:

Of course, if someone said to me “Do you want to play James Bond?”, I’d be like, Yeah! That’s fascinating to me. But it’s not something I’ve expressed, like, Yeah, I wanna be the black James Bond.

Speculation had been rife that the Golden Globe winner was to step into Bond’s famous tuxedo, heightened when he posed for a selfie with Daniel Craig at the Golden Globes in January, with the caption ‘awks.’

The Wire actor also expressed his disappointment over some Bond fans ruling him out as 007 due to the ‘colour of my skin.’

He said:

You just get disheartened when you get people from a generational point of view going, “It can’t be.” And it really turns out to be the colour of my skin. And then if I get it and it didn’t work, or it did work, would it be because of the colour of my skin? That’s a difficult position to put myself into when I don’t need to. 

In March 2019, Bond actor Ralph Fiennes walked into a major casting row by saying that 007 should never change gender or be played by a black actor.

Fiennes, who succeeded Dame Judi Dench as spymaster M, insisted black or female stars should be given their own action films to showcase their talents, away from the Bond franchise.

‘I would like to see a great black actor inhabit a Bond-like persona,’ he said. ‘But not necessarily be in the same franchise.

‘I think we could remake the idea of a Bond as a woman or as an actor of any ethnicity in another vehicle,’ he told BBC2’s Newsnight.

His comments provoked criticism on Twitter, with one poster storming: ‘Fiennes has lost the plot.’

But others supported the actor, saying Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, had always intended for the spy to be white.

In 2017, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli responded to questions about whether Bond could be black or a woman by saying: ‘These films tend to reflect the times, so we always try to push the envelope a little bit. Anything is possible. Right now, it’s Daniel Craig and I’m very happy with Daniel Craig but who knows what the future will bring?’

However, former Bond Sir Roger Moore said in 2015:

I have heard people talk about how there should be a lady Bond or a gay Bond. But they wouldn’t be Bond for the simple reason that wasn’t what Ian Fleming wrote. It is not about being homophobic or racist – it is simply about being true to the character.

The star recently tied the knot with model Sabrina Elba, 29 and previously about his decision to marry, he said: ‘We’ve been literally inseparable since we met. Inseparable.

Daily Mail.