So Idris Elba might be the next James Bond

[AstylahAthrys]

I'd be fine with this if Michael Fassbender didn't exist and pretty much HAS to play the next Bond. I mean, I can testify, that if you want a lady's man to play Bond, Fassbender would be perfect. I know I'd rip my panties off for him in a heartbeat. But, setting The Fass aside, why not? The concept of a Black Bond, should they be able to work it into current canon, would be kind of cool.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I'm not actually entire sure about a black bond. Hear me out. If it were handled badly Bond could end up looking less like a badass and more like a scary black man stereotype. Women, guns... yeah. There's that risk, and then there's also the risk that Bond turns into the now-clichéd badass black guy character and becomes an even more one dimensional character than he usually is. Give the role to skilled screenwriter, a good director and a good actor and it would work fine, but otherwise there'd be a huge risk of unfortunate implications.

Mind you, a Bond film will almost certainly have a good crew/cast so I'd hope this wouldn't be a problem.

I'm really rooting for this guy - http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm2257207/ to get a major role in something, because he's awesome. Not suited to play bond though. Anyway, more excitement for Daniel, people!

 

[CyborgGinger]

When it comes to the question of a "black Bond", I must admit, I'm totally colour blind. It really wouldn't bother me at all. Just like Idris Elba playing Heimdall - I thought he was great. Stoic, a little scary, his character was a force and not a skin colour, so it didn't even register in my head that Heimdal "should" be white, blonde and blue-eyed.

Disclaimer: I am not stereotyping all black people as adhering to any of the following points - but, lets face it, your typical black action hero usually has a certain kind of attitude which at least dips in to any number of the following points.

What would bother me, if with a black Bond I witnessed any:

• 
  - Hip-hop hard man
  - Swagger
  - Calling another black guy a "brother"
  - Any kind of hip-hop culture slang

Basically anything Will Smith usually does in his action films.

Bond is none of these things. But I guess what it boils down to in the end, for me personally, is culture. Being white, British and from a roughly middle class background, I can kinda relate to aspects of Bond's character and tastes.

I know some black guys who really don't buy into any black sub-culture and are, for all intents and purposes, just like me (ignoring difference in skin colour). We're really part of the same group. Such a person playing a black Bond would not bother me whatsoever.

But then I know some black guys who are more into the Will Smith, faux attitude, school of thinking. If I saw one of these guys playing Bond, then there'd be some major cognitive dissonance going on for me.

 

[MagunBFP]

Well I was trying to make a point with the whole black, russian, woman, CIA agent part of my comment...maybe you missed it, it was the first sentance.

And I pointed out that his appearance has been retconned. There is no Bond "look", so drawing a line at skin colour is arbitrary. Russian would mean not British so not MI6, CIA would mean not MI6, and woman would mean not James. These would actually change the character, his skin colour would have as much effect as him being suddenly almost half a foot shorter and blonde for the last 3 movies.

As for the Irish guy, the Scot and Aussie playing Bond, well they are all part of the Commonwealth so technically English by extension,

Here's a tip don't tell an Irish man that the Irish are "technically English" unless you're trying to troll. The Republic of Ireland has been an independent state for 90 years and left the commonwealth over 60 years ago.

Everything about him can change, except as you pointed out his whiteness, his love of fast cars, his martini, his relationship status (for longer then the single movie) and his style. If you want to change these things by all means go ahead, I have absolutely no problems with a Black secret agent man, especially Idris Elba I would love to see him in a movie like that, just don't call him James Bond because thats not James Bond its a different, and probably awesome character.

Being black wouldn't actually change the character though, like I said.

My apolagies to any Irish I offended with my "technically English" comment, I was uninformed. I know better now... as an Aussie and member of the Commonwealth I see so little impact/relevance of England in the running of our country that I didn't even think of anyone leaving the commonwealth... seems so much effort for so little change. That being said I am vaguely aware that England and Ireland have had their issues so I guess its fair enough...

To be completely honest I notice that they change actors, but I don't look at the character and saw "hey he was 6 inches taller and had brown eyes last movie" that could be my lack of attention to detail, but as long as he looks similar its easy enough to accept... people dye their hair all the time, put on or loose weight/muscle, get tanned, become paler, shave/stop shaving all the time so differences along those lines are easier to dismiss... the one thing I haven't seen is someone changing skin colour from white to black. Drawing the line at changing his skin colour may seem arbitrary but he has alot of history establishing that he's white. So personally as far as this character is concerned making him black, or latino or russian or a woman is a character changing change.

 

[V8 Ninja]

There are so many plot holes and continuity weirdness in the Bond universe now that it really doesn't matter whether Bond is white or black or indeed any other race.

While I'm not exactly a James Bond aficionado, didn't the original Casino Royale establish that MI6 has a wing specifically dedicated to training 00 agents, with only the best of the best actually becoming new 00 agents? From that perspective, it would actually make logical sense as to why 007 would be different when actors changed; the predecessor died/retired in-continuity and his shoes were filled by the next best-in-training 00 agent.

A Bit More OT: Sure, why not? I prefer the quality of an actor over their race, and from what I can tell Idris Elba is a good actor.

 

[Commerford]

What's up with everyone saying how they would have to explain it in, and that they can't just retcon Bond? Have you seen James Bond films prior to the Craig films? In his 20+ films I can only think of one instance that a previous story was mentioned, and all that was, in one of the Dalton films, I think License to Kill, Felix mentioned he was married once. And that is it! In 20+ films the only kind of continuity was one sentence. The only things that shouldn't, in my opinion be changed are; the agent is called James Bond, assigned the number 007 who works for the British Secret Service, M runs said service, the Quartermaster is called Q, who gives him gadgets and a sweet car, there is bad guy with crazy plan, and it's action film. Other than that, have at it.

Not sure what's caused all this fuss about there only being one universe, I reckon it's either all the comics getting turned into films, or the Craig films trying to show Bond's history, but either way, fuck that.

 

[Griffolion]

-snip-

No offense mate, but Idris' performance in "Luther" outshone both Thor and Prometheus combined. Check the series out if you already haven't.

OT: That would be awesome. I'd just love to see a JB that struck away from, well, being white basically. And, as a great British actor, Idris would definitely be on the short list.

 

[WanderingFool]

...I now really want to see a James Bond involving an octopus with a British accent.

Think of the fight scenes!

Quick help me think of an Octopus pun, that we can use to satirise that bit from the theme song..

Do you expect me to talk?
NO MR BOND! I EXPECT YOU TO DIE

*clears throat*

Do you expect me to talk?
NO MR BOND! I EXPECT YOU TO DYE!

Also, how weird would it be for the Bond girls?

Right now someone in Japan is making that movie.

Shit... Give me five minutes on google, and I can find just that movie, as well as its three sequals...

 

[mysecondlife]

Don't see any reason to object, although Craig is going to be Bond for loong time.

I'm not really a huge Bond fan, but this man as Bond?

Fuck yes. Internet, make it happen!

I swear, I thought the buildings behind him were going to explode..

 

[Moth_Monk]

Pfft, can't we have an Iranian James Bond?

I'm SO NOT RACIST - GET ME!

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Firstly, what's wrong with Daniel Craig? I would have thought he has a couple of Bond movies left in him.

Idris Elba would certainly look the part and would do a good job but I don't know about casting him.

As to whether a black actor can play Bond; sure, if a white actor can play Shaft. However I think if a character is written in a series as belonging to a certain gender/ethnicity then they should probably be played by an actor who best matches that description, purely for accuracy to the text. I was horrified at the "white-washing" of movies like Avatar and potentially what's happening with Akira. They should have definately been played by Asian actors. It's not like there aren't fine Asian actors. .

While I agree with you, honestly name 5 Asian actors who can speak English, and be in the same age group that is needed for Akira (and can sell movies)... If you can do that then you need a job as a casting director.

I can actually do that but you probably wouldn't be familiar with a lot of their work, which sort of answers the question of "can they sell movies?" No; not in the sense we're talking about at least.

 

[DJjaffacake]

There are so many plot holes and continuity weirdness in the Bond universe now that it really doesn't matter whether Bond is white or black or indeed any other race.

While I'm not exactly a James Bond aficionado, didn't the original Casino Royale establish that MI6 has a wing specifically dedicated to training 00 agents, with only the best of the best actually becoming new 00 agents? From that perspective, it would actually make logical sense as to why 007 would be different when actors changed; the predecessor died/retired in-continuity and his shoes were filled by the next best-in-training 00 agent.

A Bit More OT: Sure, why not? I prefer the quality of an actor over their race, and from what I can tell Idris Elba is a good actor.

There are so many plot holes and continuity weirdness in the Bond universe now that it really doesn't matter whether Bond is white or black or indeed any other race.

My brother summed it up best once: "The way I see it is when the actor changes it's also the actual agent changing. "James Bond" is just a service name; an alias. The previous agent either died or retired and the new agent comes onto the scene and continues missions as normal."

It's why Daniel Craig's Bond is clearly new to the scene but it's still set in a modern day timeframe.

I hear this idea a lot, and it would make sense except for the fact that Bond's childhood is well established. So unless they recruit their potential 007's exclusively from upper middle class English orphans who were raised in the Scottish Highlands, then it would seem unlikely that they are different agents.

 

[General Vagueness]

Well the entire thing is based on a book series that goes back farther than the movies, and I think he was white in that, so there's a little bit of a reason not to have one (the source material argument), but not much, especially since the connection between them tends to get looser with every passing decade.

 

[unstabLized]

I definitely like Idris Elba. I don't like him as James Bond. It's nothing about races and whatnot, it's just that.. I can't imagine him as Bond. Daniel Craig is okay, but in my opinion, it took him till Skyfall to actually perfect the character of Bond. Plus, some people are saying that Craig has more Bond movies coming, so that makes me happy, because I really liked him in Skyfall. He seemed less robotic then in Quantom of Solace and Casino Royale. However, I CAN imagine Idris Elba playing as Bond's partner. 006 or 008 or whatever. It just fits to me.

Either that, or him playing the villain. A villain that can match Bond. I can perfectly imagine Elba to be in a white suit, being the mastermind behind all the plans. Somewhat like the Joker and Batman, but less.. insane?

 

[soren7550]

The way I feel about who should play Bond is that they should probably all have the following:
- dark hair
- dark eyes
- British(/-ish) accent (a sexy one at that)
- Be in the 6'-ish range
- White skin, bit tanned

I feel that way because that's what I and most people are used to Bond looking. It's kind of a part of his character to be tall, dark, and handsome. Which is why a lot of people had problems with Craig, since he's under six feet tall, blond haired, blue eyed, and a pale-ish dude. (that and he deviated away from the classic Bond calm, cool, and collected way of doing things)

 

[Zetatrain]

There are so many plot holes and continuity weirdness in the Bond universe now that it really doesn't matter whether Bond is white or black or indeed any other race.

My brother summed it up best once: "The way I see it is when the actor changes it's also the actual agent changing. "James Bond" is just a service name; an alias. The previous agent either died or retired and the new agent comes onto the scene and continues missions as normal."

It's why Daniel Craig's Bond is clearly new to the scene but it's still set in a modern day timeframe.

While the "James Bond is an alias" is an interesting theory it too has its share of holes since it was never intended. For instance, in "For Your Eyes Only" (Roger Moore) Bond is visiting the gave of his deceased wife and in "License to Kill" (Timothy Dalton) there is a subtle reference to his wife. Plus I'm sure the producers have officially denied the theory.

As for "Casino Royale", its meant to be a reboot with no connections to the previous films and I believe in "Skyfall" its strongly suggested that James Bond is his real name. Now if the producers want to start running with this theory then that's fine, but they should restrict it to the Craig's bond and future Bonds and not with Bonds that came before Craig.

Funny piece of trivia, during "Die Another Day"'s production the director wanted to make the theory official by having Sean Connery make a cameo. Basically, Connery would speak a few words to Brosnan that would confirm the theory. However, the producers axed it since they feared it would open a can of worms.

 

[Sean951]

If Idris Elba does get the job, I think a better method would be to have him as another 00X agent within the Bond-verse. It would also allow for some fun cross-over cameos. I loved him as Heimdall, but I just can't picture Bond as anything but Pierce Brosnan, the suave British guy who looks damn good in a suit. Elba looks badass enough to play whatever he wants, but I don't see him as Bond. I could maybe see a more serious Will Smith, since he has the smooth talking down to a science, but this could just as easily be a lack of familiarity with Elba's work.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

He was Stringer Bell in The Wire.

He can be whatever the fuck he wants.

 

[MrGalactus]

How would they explain him suddenly turning black?

Don't get me wrong, Luther is spectacularly good, and he was the perfect Heimdall, but all the Bond movies are in a sequel structure, up to the reboot, and after. When and why did his skin colour suddenly change?

They should hire the guy and have him pay 006/8. A wider, deeper Bondiverse I would be totally on board for.

 

[sammysoso]

As long as Bond is male and British I'm down.

Obviously there has to be a "Bond" feel to the guy, and I think Elba has got it.