Idris Elba Responds To Past Rumors Linking Him To The Role Of James Bond

He would be awesome. He'd be sick with the accent and he's physically capable to follow Craig, unlike Fassbender and his toothpick legs.

That rhymed.

there would be melt down if that happens. it would be awesome to watch. you'd get the usual clichés 'I'm not racist, but james bond should be white'

it would be awesome...

They say that Bond is a bad mother ...shut your mouth!

Idris as Shaft? That's insulting to his talent.

Elba would rock it but I think Chiwetel Ejiofor would be a better choice for a black Bond personally.

Dayam @tea! I wan' tha' mu'fudgin' beat on vinyl baby!

That Nuck's a bad spellcheckin' mama-jamma!

@Nomis I don't know. If you have a good script and plan on hiring a good actor, why not make an original movie? Unless the trailer is steller, the moment people hear Shaft, it's going to be written off at light speed.

And why has no one ever made any Fury/Wayne mash ups out of Shaft clips? There's some really good material in there. They literally look like Bruce Wayne and Nick Fury in the movie.

@Caedus137 I know Fassbender is turning into the IT guy right now, but I think he needs to step his game up for Bond. He has the accent, the end. When he's more seasoned and has a little more presence to execute the cold steel plus the charm, I can see him doing Bond. Right now, I think he's missing something.

as ah black male it's cool to see a black bond but for the right reasons not just to have a gov in a bond flim. Idris is ah phenomenal actor , it'd be ah tough call between him an fassbender though ..................

Neo - Fair comment. As good as he was playing Magneto, he did seem to slip back into his native Irish once or twice... We'll have to see. Maybe Prometheus will be the one to swing it for him one way or the other?

Hello to the [frick]ing NO! sorry,not racists but I could not watch a bond film with a black guy as bond,I would be thinking bond has had a sergical race change,EVEN Will smith smith was considered for superman and he said and I quote ''you shouldnt mess with white peoples heroes'' and I see this as no different

I think Idris would do great as Bond. There's nothing wrong with a black 007. I never agreed with him playing a Norse God (he was solid though), but a secret agent? I fully support it, he's got great personality, acting skills and charm.

Let me play the devil's advocate.
I've been saying for a while that Bane should have been hispanic. I reason this as being vital to his character, his origins, and then the fact that there's really not a whole lot of hispanic characters in comics. I really like Tom Hardy. Last night I saw Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy not because of him, not even because of Gary Oldman or Mark Strong, but because of Tomas Alfredson. I was disappointed with Gary Oldman (although it may have just been the role he was playing, I'm speaking with ignorance here), Mark Strong was wonderful as always, but Tom Hardy is just so charismatic, he stole every scene he was in.

You have an actor who is comparable to the ever sensational Michael Fassbender (he got the part after Fassbender declined), playing a super-villain who is going to do a lot of interesting things, but will have his face obscured by a mask and unable to show emotion or expression in anything but his eyes and body language. If I were someone who didn't know the character, I would (and still do) say "waste of talent". Since I DO know the character, I feel that the changes they have made to his presentation are bland and questionable already, and then you add that he is very much white, and it just loses everything from a sensory perspective.

So I make this point about Bane to offer a comparison for why I would be for this and/or against it.

As anyone who has seen Idris Elba knows, he has the presence of Bond already in his body language. He's already got that covered. No question of talent. This is an issue of a black man playing a white character, a character who has been established in what will be 23 movies for 50 years now.

Which means that this would be an effort to tear down that stigma. If he can do what any other previous actor in the role can do, which is play a British spy who has a cold and calculating attitude to compliment his charming demeanor, then what is the problem?

This is not the issue of a white guy playing Shaft, a blaxpoitation character from the 70s. This is not the issue of a Korean actor playing El Mariachi from Robert Rodriguez' Mexican series. This would be Idris Elba playing 007.

Go for it.

I'm not sure if I would see it in theaters, though. I guess, the situation has to occur for me to know what I would do.

I would be more upset if BOND wasn't British than if he were black. As other have said, 007 are numbers, not a race. There is nothing about the character (backstory or otherwise) that makes it necessary for him to be white....HEIMDALL on the otherhand... ;)

As long as an American isn't playing BOND then it's all good! ;)

I wouldn't even mind that as long as he could do the accent. Look at RDJ, he plays an even bigger Brit icon.

Okay @Golden, your a fcuking racist.