Yep, it’s almost 2015 and we still have people complaining about black Stormtroopers and the idea of a black James Bond. If you haven’t heard the bluster by now, apparently in some of those hacked Sony emails, studio brass suggested that British actor Idris Elba would make a great next James Bond (it’s believed that Daniel Craig will give up the mantle soon).
It’s a great idea. Elba is English (obviously a prerequisite of the character), dapper, handsome and built like an elk: the actor could easily play the part. But as soon as the news hit there was negative feedback in some corners of the Internet.
Political pundit, apparent huge James Bond fan and bigot Rush Limbaugh was one of the most vocal naysayers. “James Bond is a total concept put together by Ian Fleming. He was white and Scottish. Period. That is who James Bond is, was,” the blowhard said, in comments captured by Media Matters. “But now [they are] suggesting that the next James Bond should be Idris Elba, a black Briton, rather than a white from Scotland. But that’s not who James Bond is and I know it’s racist to probably point this out.”
Yep, indeed it is! Rumors of Elba as Bond surfaced as early as 2011 and he responded at the time in an interview with NPR. "I just don’t want to be the black James Bond," the actor explained. "Sean Connery wasn’t [just] the Scottish James Bond, and Daniel Craig wasn’t [just] the blue-eyed James Bond, so if I played him, I don’t want to be called the black James Bond."
To the haters, Elba responded more recently on Twitter in comical and self-deprecating fashion. See below.
Meanwhile, the 24th James Bond film “Spectre” directed by Sam Mendes is shooting now and will be due in theaters on November 6, 2015. Maybe backwards thinking will have changed by then.
Isn’t 007 supposed to handsome? Glad you think I’ve got a shot! Happy New year people. pic.twitter.com/3g9lAl2Uo3
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) December 27, 2014
WTF?? – everyone (who wanted to be politically correct, like Indiewire) was up in arms about white guys in Exodus — but those same people don\’t see anything hypocritical in saying James Bond can be black. If you want to take a stand against racism at least be consistent, rather than simplistically anti-white.
Bond needs rejuvenation to survive now a Black James in a Tarantino directed Blaxploitation vibed Bond film would be a heavenly re birth. By the way why has no one spat the Ridley Scott Exodus bomb in all the bigoted critics faces?
Just checked. Sorry. Dev Patel ain\’t a Paki. He\’s some Brit pseudo Indian Git.
There are more Indians and Pakis in Britain than white skinned people. Why not a brown skinned Paki for James Bond? Dev Patel any one? Sorry, he\’s a talentless walking bore. One good name: Bollywood actor. Irfan Khan. (Life of Pi) Wasted in Amazing Spiderman and even Nolan wanted to cast him.
To those saying we need a "white Mandela" or a "white MLK" because no one respects cultures anymore, that is the most ignorant, privileged pseudo-intellectual argument one can muster. You DO know that James Bond is NOT A REAL PERSON! (?)
You claim Bond NEEDS to be white simply because you can only relate to him when he\’s white, when in actuality, you would be threatened by the thought of a black British actor taking your women, shooting your Reds, and driving your Aston Martin.
Oh…wait…do you have an Aston Martin? No? Then let Idris show you what a suave, handsome, GQ mother-(SHUT YOUR MOUTH) can do. Lord knows he\’d be better than Brosnan/Lazenby/Moore/Dalton, and most likely on par with Craig (or better, have you even seen Elba act?)
To STEPHENM: You can most definitely "ignore the implications." You can do whatever you want. It\’s a world of fiction. Just as Stan Lee said he\’d be fine with Donald Glover playing Spider-Man, I\’m sure Idris Elba could easily make the transition into Bond. These are action movies with a little bit of character, most of it expressions of style. It\’s not Macbeth.
Idris is a good actor and truth be told he would probably be good at it (with all the usual help from Hollywood to get him in shape for the role). I do genuinely like Idris….but not as James Bond. James Bond is a fictional character from a book….and he is White British in that book….as such the films, which have spanned 50 years have always reflected that. James Bond is so much more than this, he is constitutional and represents a part of WHITE BRITISH CULTURE that will never exist again. To do this would be an insult. As I said earlier lets have a white mandela film then if respecting other people\’s cultures doesn\’t matter to anyone anymore. Racism….what racism to whom??
No it is not racist to say that we do not want Idris to play the role of James Bond. James Bond is a particular character from a particular time in white history which would be inappropriate to be portrayed by Idris. James Bond is an intrinsic part of British CULTURE and this should not be reduced to the usual racist argument. I am happy for this to go ahead on the basis that when we next do a film about Nelson Mandela, the lead will be cast by a pasty Scottish white actor. Because respecting people\’s cultures doesn\’t matter right?
Just imagine the reaction if there were a white Shaft, a white Blade or a white Black Panther…
Man, Idris is now getting grief for being RUMORED to play a fictional character who\’s only been white in the past.
Nothing about Bond defines him as needing to be white. He is a fiction character who has been played by multiple actors in stories with multiple tones within multiple eras.
That\’s totally different to a character like John Shaft who\’s race plays a big part in the characters\’ very existence. That tends to be true for a lot of black fictional characters of western storytelling over the last century or so.
Another factor in these casting debates is the deplorable history of characters of color being whitewashed out of their own stories.
Hollywood films about or featuring Moses is fine to always get cast with a white actor but a fictional spy is wrong to be cast with a person of color?
The s*!t is tired, boring, offensive, ignorant, creatively stifling, humanistically dishonest, and probable not as profitable in the long run.
Its actually not racist to point out that Idris Elba is not a white Scot…
I wouldn\’t care if a white actor portray John Shaft. And I wouldn\’t care if a black actor portrayed James Bond. There have already had two black actors – Bernie Casey and Jeffrey Wright – portrayed Felix Leiter, who was a blonde, blue-eyed Texan in Fleming\’s novel. What\’s the big deal?
So for all those that oppose the idea of a James Bond bc, of course, he\’s \’written as scottish white\’. Yet, these same individuals are all for casting WHITE people as Tetsuo, Kaneda, Major Kusanagi, etc, etc. Oh, wait. It\’s bc minorities would not get a greenlight and budget approval bc they\’re not tested as \’profitable\’ at the box office. Uh huh…
These replies above are the most ignorant comments I\’ve ever read on a Playlist article. I truly thought most people who browsed this website were of a higher calibre than the run-of-the-mill YouTube commenters. Disappointing.
M has "always been a woman" ??? That\’s a new one to me. If your definition of always starts in 1995 with Brosnan Bond, then yeah, "always." I guess you\’ve never watched a Bond film pre 1990s, so you can leave this discussion now. Thanks for the wrong info.
I could care less if Bond is black, but I just have a problem with people labeling those who do care as racist. So by Bond staying a male, is that sexist? There is no stopping the what ifs. And why just limit it to fictional characters then? I want to see Selma with a white actor as MLK. Is that ok?
I would love to see Elba in a James Bond written and directed by Tarantino.
OK. Waiting for a queer JB. Or female. We should not be racist or chauvinist.
You are an idiot if you say a character who had been white has to be white going forward. It\’s stupid to be so closed minded, M is now a make character. Obviously not the same character but the head of MI6 has always been a woman…. why is that acceptable and not a different skin colored James Bond??
"Obviously a prerequisite of the character." Congratulations on killing your argument with the first sentence of the second paragraph.
Even on Indiewire the racists who are convinced they\’re not racist feel the need to explain themselves to no one who asked. Is no corner of the internet safe?
@stephenm The voice of reason, finally. Completely agreed.
@davisb you sorta missed the point for John Shaft there.
Yeah this website oozes hypocritical liberal BS way too much. You say Bond as to be British, well I say that is racist too then. So a true African from Africa now can\’t play him? I want a Native American Bond!
I\’m fine with a black James Bond ias long as they let a white guy play John Shaft next. If a character\’s race truly doesn\’t matter than it should go both ways.
I don\’t have a strong opinion here, but No, it is Not racist to suggest that a character who has always been white should stay white. Ethnicity is an important part of a character\’s identity. A change in ethnicity could change that identity. There is nothing racist about wanting to keep a beloved character the same. It would be racist only if the reason was that a black actor was supposedly not good enough to play the character or someone found it offensive that a black actor was playing a strong sexy character or something like that. Could a black actor play Robin Hood? Yes, but it would be a new Robin Hood, a totally distinct new character with allsorts of new issues concerning his place in society and racial politics and "updating" the character in a postmodern way, etc. If you\’re making a movie that sets out to be that meta, fine, but you can\’t change the race and ignore the implications.