Idris Elba sagt, das Publikum würde niemals akzeptieren, dass ein schwarzer Schauspieler James Bond spielt: „Das ist nicht das, was sie in ihrer Kultur mögen“
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/08/idris-elba-audiences-would-not-accept-black-actor-james-bond
Von BlackCaesarNT
32 Kommentare
I don’t care what colour anyone is, if it’s a good film I’ll fucking watch it. People will argue that no black role have ever been given to a white man, but then also have a picture of white Jesus above their fireplace.
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Isn’t Idris Elba part of our culture though?
It’s not the first time he’s been that way about roles, he hid the fact he was British when he auditioned for The Wire, but to say their culture sounds wrong to me
Personally wouldn’t care if he did play Bond, it’s not like Snape in HP where his appearance is critical to his character
Culture wars being forced on us again. How black would be allowed?
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I mean anyone thinking he isn’t right would do well to remember the enormous stink kicked up when Daniel Craig took it on for not having black hair.
He would have been great a decade ago but he’s possibly a bit old for an action Bond…
Although culture or not, a lot of his roles he plays Americans as he’s got their accident nailed down fairly well. He’s in loads of random stuff, like the Captain in Prometheus and the General in 28 Weeks Later sounding very American.
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Awful, click-bait headline designed to make people think he’s talking about British culture when he specifies immediately before he is not. It’s no secret that having black leads in films tanks the Chinese box office, which is hugely important for most big budget blockbusters.
cast Ryan Reynolds as the lead in ‚Shaft‘, see how that plays out
> And also, I think, in realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that. Bond is big all over the world. And [audiences] won’t [all] go for a black male, an African male, playing Bond. That’s not what they like in their culture. Period.”
The full quote is still vague about exactly who „they“ are, but the implication seems to be it’s certainforeign countries where a black guy wouldn’t match their idea of what a quintessentially British character should look like rather than the domestic audience.
Why does he say „their‘ culture, not „our“ culture?
He’s clearly talking about international audiences, bond is big in asia so it scares the studio. Honestly I think short of a few troglodytes there’s not many in this country who would protest someone like Idris playing bond now. The biggest danger with a non-white bond imo would be the temptation for the studio to whitewash that iteration of the character, make him safe and palatable to avoid more controversy. Which is not really what the character is about.
I didn’t like Bond being blond, there is nothing wrong with expecting a character to look close to the descriptions.
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Idris would have made a good bond… When he was younger.
> And also, I think, in realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that. Bond is big all over the world. And [audiences] won’t [all] go for a black male, an African male, playing Bond. That’s not what they like in their culture. Period.”
I think this is the important bit.
He’s not implying that the UK market wouldn’t be happy with him.
Bit off topic but do you think we as a country are ready to accept a bald bond? Shaven rsther than slaphead obviously.
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Idris Elba plays a very memorable secret agent in Cyberpunk 2077 phantom liberty. I liked Solomon Reed a great deal as a character and Elba did a great job with the role.
But some characters just aren’t black. James Bond was never written to be, and we cannot deny that race does change a character, their interactions with the world, etc.
Bond is historically a borderline rapey, heavily womanising, arrogant and trigger happy „dinosaur“ as M calls him. That translates very differently depending on his race. His reputation as a symbol of a British gentleman (albeit one with a huge chip on his shoulder) might be interesting to explore from the perspective of a black Brit, but I simply don’t trust the producers to not focus on the race swap rather than just handling it sensibly.
It would be pretty hard for a black Bond to be a spy in cold war Russia. He may stand out a bit.
It’s a shame but he’s right.
Can you imagine the uproar about it?
Just look at Snape in the new Harry Potter series; god that was bad enough.
Reading the full quote, I don’t think he’s talking about UK culture? Definitely a lot of countries in Asia and elsewhere where having a black lead would affect box office figures. Frankly though, stuff em‘, the best actor for the job should get the role and race shouldn’t play into it.
The headline is antagonistic but he sounds reasonable enough – I liked his articulation here:
> Elba also said he believed that the character should not evolve too dramatically from Ian Fleming’s original creation. “Bond is so unrealistic, so a hint of reality is good, but let’s not try and make it woke,” he said. “I think you’ve got to be pure to what it is: escapism. Don’t try and answer the world’s taste. Just be Bond.”
At 53, I think Idris Elba is too old to start playing Bond now.
Daniel Craig was in his 30’s when he got the job, and did 5 Bond films over 15 years. You’re going to get more mileage out of a younger actor. (if they’re any good!)
As long as Bond is British (the character, not the actor) I don’t care who plays him. Idris would have been a perfect James Bond
I’ll give the same answer that I give when they say they need a female James Bond.
There’s plenty of 00 numbers. There’s no reason why we can’t have 009 or 005.
Cast Idris Elba or Melissa McCarthy as a 00 agent if you’re needing to promote diversity.
Don’t stop them being an agent doing the same things as Bond but they won’t be James Bond.
I’d object to Elba playing Bond not because of the colour of his skin (although I do dislike arbitrary changes to a character for politically correct reasons) but because he’s a wooden actor that doesn’t fit what the Bond character requires.