Idris Elba reportedly being considered for next James Bond

[Johnny Novgorod]

I honestly can't think of a good Bond pick at this point.

I really wish that Colin Salmon had gotten a chance to be Bond rather than just a bit player in the Brosnen movies.

He oozed charm. Had great physicality. Just a quintessential Englishman. Sadly at 55 he could do one movie but not the franchise Holywood wants these days.

Second that. Mind you, the only other things I've seen him in were Resident Evil movies, AvP and one Doctor Who story.

He was Tanner (a classic Bond ally) in a couple of Brosnan flicks. I mostly remember him from a crappy TV show called Keen Eddy where he essentially played M to an American loose cannon sent over to British intelligence. Maybe not a great actor and as far as I can tell not even lead material, but definitely has more joie de vivre than Elba.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

I'm pretty sure the "I'm totally not racist" people are just name dropping Elba because he's the only British actor of sub-Saharan descent they know by name. Plural of anecdote isn't data, but I swear to Christ every time this has come up in casual conversation with close or distant social groups I am or have been part of or associated with, over the past decade this has been a thing, eventually I have enough of the virtue signalling and challenge people to name ONE black British actor besides Elba without looking it up on their smartphones. Not once -- not fucking once -- has anyone been able to answer the challenge.

I could name you three off the top of my head but then I'm British so I kind of have the advantage there

Someone once thought they'd turn the tables and "gotcha" me, and I answered with the black British actor I think best suited to the role -- Richard Ayoade. I think the idea of a highly-educated Bond who solves problems diplomatically and through sheer force of wits, while avoiding direct violence -- basically being somewhere between Sherlock Holmes and MacGyver -- would reinvigorate the franchise in a huge way. But alas, apparently Richard Ayoade isn't black...who knew?

Okay, I am absolutely with you on that film. I would love to see a secret agent actually acting like a secret agent, not just a wrecking ball with a gun. Get someone who fights smart not fights hard

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Bond is supposed to be a washed-up "misogynist dinosaur", not a champion of social justice. He's an upper class, privately educated sociopath, and while I can understand them dropping the cigarettes (whether I agree or not, it doesn't change the character) he's also a heavy drinker. He's supposed to be a male power fantasy and I bet 98/100 women would rather watch Daniel Craig as Bond than a female version.

Nothing of that excludes Elba as a potential Agent 007, though.

And you do realize that plenty of people out there pushed Elba, because they've seen his other roles and thought that he has the charm and chops to pull off being Bond?
(That also answers the "y no other black actor?" question.)