Idris Elba Says He’s ‘Too Old’ To Play James Bond
The ‘Star Trek Beyond’ star says “cars and ladies and martinis” are not in his future.
The drama around playing legendary super spy James Bond can be more tiring than watching an epic supercut of chase scenes from the films on a loop.
What with Daniel Craig’s irritable flirting with even bothering to continue as well as all the talk of Idris Elba playing Bond, it’s enough to make you say, ‘just shut up and make a movie already.’ And of all people, Idris Elba seems to agree: this shit is getting old. In fact, Idris sounds positively tired of the issue.
Appearing on Good Morning America to talk about his villain role in Star Trek Beyond—among other things—the 43-year-old actor and one-time Maxim cover guy was asked about those long-standing rumors, hopes, and dreams that he might one day play Bond.
“I keep saying if it were to happen it would be the will of a nation,” Idris said, “because there hasn’t been any talks between me and the studio about any of that.”
Idris acknowledged that the Bond question is a thing with fans, saying that “everywhere I go people want that to happen, so.”
Idris admitted to a forty-something man’s frank view of the prospect of taking over the Bond franchise, which has become a notably more intense, athletic endeavor for the lead since the bulked-up Craig took on the role. “… If I’m really honest man, I think I’m too old for that man,” he said, “running around in cars and ladies and martinis, who wants to do that? Sounds terrible.”
As for his role as the bad guy in Star Trek Beyond, Idris seems pretty stoked. He told Good Morning America that “Star Trek is a big franchise,” and for him to be a part of it and “be a villain, that was an honor.”
Bond actors are almost always in their forties, so we’d debate Idris Elba about his fitness to play the role, especially since he’s obviously still in killer shape. But we do get reaching a certain point in life and feeling torn between the excitement of something new and the feeling that it just sounds like way too much damned work to bother.
Either way, whatever Idris does, we’ll keep watching.