The Elba/Bond debate has been raging for what, a decade now? One side argues that the Luther star would bring a steely charisma to the role, while the other side (middle-aged egg avatars who post Pepe the Frog memes to their 37 followers) will accept nothing less than Sean Connery in a toupee. So it goes.
America isn’t agonising over the subject quite as much as we are, though. According to a survey of 2,201 adults conducted by The Hollywood Reporter, 63 per cent of US Bond fans support the idea of Elba donning the tuxedo, and 53 per cent support the casting of a black James Bond.
Elba has downplayed the rumours many times, but toyed with fans in August by tweeting “My name’s Elba, Idris Elba”, only to shut down the suggestion that he’d signed on to replace Daniel Craig.
Elba has previously bemoaned the fact that race has framed the debate so far. He told the New York Times: "It’s interesting that the James Bond thing continues to go. I think it’s more about, we just want to have a black guy play James Bond rather than Idris Elba the actor play James Bond. That’s the part that I’m like, ‘Ugh, come on.’”
In his Esquire December issue cover story, Elba went one further, talking about his discomfort with being constantly referred to as a ‘black actor’.
“I don’t like the term ‘black actor’ in the first place. I don’t understand what that is. When we talk about Benedict Cumberbatch, we don’t call him a ‘white actor’.
He continued: "When you speak about van Gogh, or any other painter, they’re painters; they use all the colours in the spectrum. They don’t use colours confined to where they’re from.”
Read his full Esquire interview and shoot here.
Nick Pope is the Site Director of Esquire, overseeing digital strategy for the brand.
