Popular actor Idris Elba has explained how talks about race made him jettison his interest to play the role of James Bond aka 007 which was created by British novelist, Ian Fleming.
The actor who opened up during a recent interview on the SmartLess podcast, said that the James Bond role has always been an honour to him but talks about his race turned him off.
According to Idris, it was a huge compliment for him when he was touted to play the James Bond role.
“The truth is, I was super complimented for a long time about this,” Elba said (via Variety). “I was like, ‘This is crazy!’ James Bond…We’re all actors and we understand that role.
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‘‘It’s one of those coveted [roles]. Being asked to be James Bond was like, ‘Ok, you’ve sort of reached the pinnacle’. That’s one of those things the whole world has a vote in.”
He also added that while most corners of the world were thrilled about the idea, “some corners” were not, and it eventually made “the whole thing disgusting and off-putting” for the actor.
“Essentially, it was a huge compliment that every corner of the world except from some corners, which we will not talk about, were really happy about the idea that I could be considered,” Elba added.
“Those that weren’t happy about the idea made the whole thing disgusting and off-putting, because it became about race. It became about nonsense and I got the brunt of it.”
