Screen Actors Guild Award winner Idris Elba says that James Bond should stay a middle-aged, white, man and that the next Bond film should not go woke.
Elba, who was once rumored to be the “next Bond” after actor Daniel Craig left the role, recently told GQ magazine that the James Bond character should not be race swapped or gender changed and should remain “pure” to its traditional character traits.
“Bond is so unrealistic, so a hint of reality is good, but let’s not try and make it woke.” Elba told GQ.
“I think you’ve got to be pure to what it is: escapism. Don’t try and answer the world’s taste. Just be Bond,” he added.
He even admitted that the rumors that he was set to take up the role in 2021 were “not realistic.”
“I’ve always felt that it’s not a realistic thing. James Bond was written how he was written for a reason. But I was complimented by it,” Elba said.
“And also, I think, in realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that. Bond is big all over the world. And [audiences] won’t [all] go for a black male, an African male, playing Bond. That’s not what they like in their culture. Period,” he explained.
Amazon MGM Studios now fully control the world of James Bond films and recently announced that the search for the next Bond is well underway, though they have not made any specific comments on some of the candidates.
Despite saying he felt “complimented” by the rumors that he could be the next James Bond, he also commented on the backlash that the rumor engendered when many fans were upset over the race swapping of the character.
In 2023, Elba said that the backlash “made the whole thing disgusting and off-putting,” and that it “became about race and nonsense.” He also stated that he “got the brunt of it.”
The backlash became so fierce that Elba publicly stated that he no longer had any interest in playing Bond.
Elba has decried the race angle before. In March, he insisted that he isn’t a “black actor,” but is , instead, just an actor. “I stopped describing myself as a Black actor when I realized it put me in a box,” he said.
“As humans, we are obsessed with race. And that obsession can really hinder people’s aspirations, hinder people’s growth. Racism should be a topic for discussion, sure. Racism is very real,” Elba said. “But from my perspective, it’s only as powerful as you allow it to be. We’ve got to grow. We’ve got to. Our skin is no more than that: It’s just skin.”
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