Sir Idris Elba Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters

I was auditioning for Avon Box, they were like, we'd love you to play Stringer Bell, and I was like, oh yeah, who's Stringer again? Which one's he? He's like, you know, his mate. And I was like, oh right, the guy who doesn't say much. Yeah, yeah, I'll take it. Luther. There'll be nothing we can use, no forensics, nothing, and he'll wiggle out of this again. John, you're a police officer, and this is a murdered woman. Her family are waiting, they're going out of their minds, and you want to just lock her back up and walk away? This is about the law, not retribution. I'm not asking for your approval, sir. Just your silence. I was living in America, and they offered the role to me at the BBC, came home, and did it. It was 16 years ago. So yeah, John was, John, John was, you know, just this opportunity to like, get back on British TV, and in a leading role, and playing a BBC detective is great. I think it was, you know, just coming back to the UK, and coming back to my culture after living in the States for so long. I did some research with these department of police detectives in South London. I sat with them for, you know, a few meetings just to understand the psychology of murder detectives. It's a grim, grim job. I mean, just how they deal with their job, you know what I mean, and having to have that balance. You go to work, and you see something really gruesome, and you go home to your family, and they have to be normalized by it. Can't be too, you know, sentimental around it, and that was quite surprising. It's like, yeah, so he walked in there and chopped off her head. Her head was over there, and her body was there, and it was trying to figure out how he did it. It's just like, wow, he's just talking about it like it was nothing. I found them very calm, pragmatic, especially just the idea that, you know, people die, and people are bad to people. It was so, like, just, like, frank conversation about death. There's a lot of imagery that you see, which is obviously not real, but, and you're sort of like, my character in Luther in the beginning, he was very, he was on the edge of depression the whole time, and I think that's because, you know, he really takes his job very, very serious. He takes it to his heart, to his chest. For the acting component of Luther, my body doesn't know I'm acting. When I go and see this woman dead on the floor, this man dead on the floor, my body's reaction is an honest one, and it's like, ah, you feel that in your gut, but just making sure you don't take that home with you, you know? I've been playing Luther for a long time. I'm actually making the second movie right now, and I do need to get out, you know, and let my hair down when I play Luther. Otherwise, it gets a lot. The scripts are so well written and underwritten at the same time, you know? It doesn't do too much for John. John's a good listener. He sort of calculates things very quickly. He's quite intelligent, and the way he's written is very sort of like, you know, matter of fact, I really enjoy playing that sense of John, which is just this very sort of wise man, if you like, wise man detective. Luther and Alice, you know, there's this really ingenious partnership between these weird characters, you know? I mean, obviously, in the first time we meet Alice, she is a murder suspect. John can't quite figure her out, and she intrigues him. Ruth Wilson and I just really enjoy playing the theatrics of these two, you know? She's very smart, he's very smart. They're always playing catch and mouse. I guess more than with any actor I've ever worked with, Ruth and I always sort of dance around each other, throw the ball back at each other, randomise it, you know, see what we're going to come up with. It's always really a lot of fun. I think the first thing we actually did was at the interview. He yawns, and she doesn't yawn, and he goes, yeah, she did it. He says, how do you know that? Because she didn't yawn. I remember that scene being so funny, but I haven't seen much of Luther. I don't tend not to watch the stuff I'm in, so I haven't seen a lot of it. I prefer being there, acting, and then letting the process of watching for someone else, you know what I mean? I find myself being really overly critical about my performances, so I try not to watch them. The Wire. You got Ronnie Moe in the pits. Ronnie Moe got A51 this morning. And you're going to put me in the low rises when I had a tower since summer? You had a tower. You might have a tower again if you can keep your mind to ----. This is fucked up. You show us you can run the pit, and you'll be back uptown soon enough. I was living in New York, and I was auditioning a lot. I wasn't working much, but I was auditioning. I auditioned maybe four times, and the fourth audition, they gave me the job. The casting director said, don't go in there with your English accent. Make sure you go in with your American accent. I was auditioning for Avon Barksdale, and they were like, we'd love you to play Stringer Bell. I was like, oh yeah, who's Stringer again? Which one's he? He's like, you know, his mate. And I said, oh right, the guy who doesn't say much. Yeah, I'll take it. On the day, in the room, on the fourth audition, they had a bet. One of the producers was like, so we'd love you to play the role. I just, where are you from? Oh, what man? Where are you from, I was like, oh man, don't make me lie. I said, okay, I'm English. I was told not to do an English accent. They were like, no ******* way, what? And David Simon was like, wow, great, let's go for it. You know, you three tenths of a mile long, dog. And if you followed directions, you wouldn't be. Yo, String, I did everything like I should, man. Yo, I swear. I didn't ever meet the real character, the real Stringer. I knew a little bit about him. I took my inspirations for Stringer from people I knew in the UK, gangsters that were more suits and smiles than like, yo. Of course, the writing was all there. I got into my character quite easily based on the writing, but his cadence, his demeanor, his swag was definitely something that I sculpted from people I knew back home. It was more about being understated, listening, not over animating stuff, being quite still considered a consigliere. You know, growing up where I grew up, gangsters were nice to you, charming and, you know, moved with grace as opposed to like, I'm big and tough all the time. It was a really tough scene to shoot because I didn't know Stringer was going to die. In that episode, I was like, what? Wait, what? He dies? What do you mean? It was quite a surprise. I think it was a good move for the show. Famously, I haven't seen it. I've seen some parts of it. I think it holds up. I think the writing was so good and the perspective of that part of America is crystal clear. I think if they did it again, you know, it would still resonate in terms of, you know, looking at the underbelly of American society. I don't think they'll make the same show, but the ingredients are certainly there. It's up for the taking and why not? Exploding compression bullets. No one likes to show off. Unless what they're showing off is dope as ****. James Gunn called me up. I was like, James Gunn's calling me up? Wow. I really like him as a director. He's amazing. And he's like, hey, I'm doing the Suicide Squad. Can I come and see you? I said, yeah, I'm in LA. Came up, shut down, had a meeting and goes, I think you're great for this role. I'd love you to take it. I was like, yeah. And there was it. We were on our way to Panama. It was great. It's great. I mean, John is so funny and so amazing at improvising. You can't keep up with him. I mean, he's just like off the dome really quick. And we had a lot of fun. That partnership with him was definitely one of the standout experiences of making that film, was going back and forth with John. You could watch TV on it. Why would you want to watch TV on your watch? I don't know. Next time you want to nick something, you take a partner and they can be your lookout. That's your advice. Yeah. We talked about fatherhood, actually, because Bloodsport is a dad who, you know, has a really rocky relationship with his daughter. We spoke about that quite a bit and how that influences him. He is very much a mercenary who happens to be a superhero. He's not like a superhero. He's a guy that can fight really well, use machines and weapons really well. And it was, you know, a lot of training, trying to get that role rolling. It was fun. MCU, Thor. What troubles you, Gatekeeper? I turned my gaze upon you in Jotunheim, but could not see you nor hear you. You were shrouded from me like the frost giants that entered this realm. Perhaps your senses have weakened after your many years of service. Or perhaps someone has found a way to hide that which he does not wish me to see. Kenneth Branagh called me and said, hey, do you fancy playing Heimdall in Thor? And I was like, who? What? What? I didn't know much about Thor. You know, I was more of a Spider-Man guy myself, but I got to, you know, work with Kenneth Branagh, who directed that first one. And, you know, that was really fun. It was really interesting, you know, talking about the Asgardians as a people, as a race, and Heimdall being the guardian of, you know, the Bifrost. I mean, it was like, yeah, I want to do this. I was a bit like, oh, the character in the comics is definitely white, and he's a god, he's Norse god, and I was like, no, I'm not Norse. I was like, no, you know, we want to do something different. And I really was, I thought I was brave. You know, the race, that didn't matter to him. He was like, by the way, this is a mythical character, it's not real, so shut up. Is it true that it was like 24 hours? Pretty much, yeah. Now, I remember coming off the Mandela, and they were like, you know, Heimdall's an opportunity, do you want to play it? I was like, I wouldn't mind a break. I was like, no breaks, going straight in. So I was like, okay. It was very, very strange. Very strange. I remember playing Nelson Mandela and being sort of like, I met a few heads of state while I was making that movie for various reasons, and then suddenly, I was hanging on a wire with a sword, a big helmet. It was so bizarre. You've got some good facts that I've forgotten about. I totally forgot about that. Spent the last six months activating everything I can get my hands on. There's an old Jaeger, Mark III, you may know it. It needs a pilot. I'm guessing that wasn't your first choice. It was my first choice. You know, a phone call from a director like Guillermo del Toro is like, what? Yes. Where's the phone? Give it to me now. And he had a very specific look, feel. He knew his house stacker should look. I mean, down to the T. I was like, please, I'd love to flow out to Toronto to make it. Got this crazy haircut. It's sharp, no fade. I mean, it was like, be very specific. It's just like a cartoon. I don't want you to do too much. I want you to be very still. You know, at first it was a bit of a challenge, but once I got into it, I understood, you know, when I got into the flow of who Stacker is, I could do it. Today we face the monsters that are at our door and bring the fight to them. Today we are canceling the apocalypse. It was definitely that Braveheart moment. We spoke about Braveheart. He said, I want you to rise. You know, I've got this canceling the apocalypse line, which is like, a massive line. And yeah, I just went at it. I knew that the moment in the film where he has this speech is the big pinnacle moment before the ending. So I had to give it some, I mean, I watched a couple of movies where the speech is that, uh, you know, quite motivating or just powerful. I remember watching a few good men, Jack Nicholson, who just had this demeanor. I was like, yeah, I want to get there somewhere. Confidence, authority, like, you know, move you with words. Finally, we have 14 missing mammal cases, all predators from a giant polar bear to a teensy little otter. And City Hall is right up my tail to find them. This is priority number one. Chief Bogo. Love Chief Bogo. There's a film I have seen. Love playing that guy. He's just funny. Big voice, silly. You know, I just love playing him. It's such a big, big film. Like people actually love both one and two. So it was great. I feel great. I remember meeting young kids and they'll be like, parents will be like, do you know who this is? And it's like, no, his name is Idris, but he plays Chief Bogo. And they're like, no, Chief Bogo. They know me immediately. Do you think the mayor asked what I wanted when he assigned you to me? Life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and your insipid dreams magically come true. So let it go. Yeah, Jungle Book, Knuckles. I've done quite a bit. I enjoy it. It's weird that I can only do sort of three to four hours at the most. The environment's so quiet and I start to get sleepy and warm. But I really like the process of making my voice do things. I don't have to worry about my face. I can move my face. You have to move your face and your expressions to get the colors and textures and, you know, the right intonation on words. Interesting though, they do record your face so they can show it to the animators to see how my mouth moves and stuff. The office. So many soccer fans in the office. I mean, to be fair, I was the first one to talk about it. But what about you, Jim? Are you a fan of the game? Oh, no, no, not really. It's not for everybody, I suppose. Charles Minor. It was so much fun to play, but it was difficult because, you know, all they do is laugh. Always trying to make me laugh. And, you know, you rehearse. You do the writer's room and, you know, you know all the jokes. But on the day, there's lots of improvising and, you know, keeping a straight face and look at the camera. I loved it. It was so funny. Funny, funny, funny, funny. You're back. Yes, I am, Charles. Except this time you have no legal right to kick me out because I have started my very own paper company right here in the building. I guess it was good because I didn't have to do the comedy. I mean, I love doing comedies. I'm goofy, but I don't get to play them much. But that was fun because I could just, you know, be the straight guy and they do the funny ----. My funniest moment is when I'm playing football and I kick the ball and it hits one of the characters in the face and breaks her nose. It's like, Charles Minor, what have you done? It's oh, I'm so sorry. Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom. I have no choice. I've seen what fear has done to your people. You've always been afraid of us and it has made you an unjust and brutal people. I got a call from my agent, Roger, and he was like, hey, listen, are you sitting down? I was like, no, I'm standing up. He's like, we should sit down. I was like, why? He's like, they're making a film about Mandela and they want you. I was like, oh, to play who? To play Nelson. I was like, me playing Nelson Mandela? Come on, I don't look nothing like him. He's like, no, no, no, it's not like that. In fact, Nelson Mandela wants you to play Nelson Mandela. I was like, what? At first it was a lot of pressure. I was like, nah, I can't. I mean, what? How do you even approach something like that? And then once I got to understand, I spoke to Justin Chadwick, the director. I was like, okay, this isn't a, you know, like for like. I don't want you to look like him. I want you to embody his essence. And I started to say, okay, I understand. And it was based on the book, Long Walk to Freedom, which is a 700 page book, big story. And it was just, you know, going on that history journey to understand how to play him, play various parts of his life, you know. I moved to South Africa, obviously, before shooting. I wanted to understand the culture, especially the Xhosa culture and South Africans generally, and their understanding of Nelson Mandela's story. I just wanted to absorb that because that was really important to me that I didn't do like an impression of him. Nelson Mandela is a most polarizing character. You know, for some people, he's a absolute hero. And for others, he's less of, you know, even if I'm doing an accent or whatever, understanding the culture is the easiest way for me to get into it, to absorb it. I learned a lot about South Africa and about the history. I got to hang with Winnie Mandela a lot. And she was very helpful in helping construct me as an actor for Nelson. She always said that, you know, you remind me of him when he was younger. You remind me of him a lot. You know, you're very calm and you're very well-spoken and you're forthright and you seem like you've got conviction. She said that a lot. She said, he was very handsome. You're very handsome. It was a really amazing experience. I mean, I remember one of the scenes where I'm playing young Mandela and he's doing a speech in Soweto. It's a real, real moment in his life where he was a lawyer. Stands up in front of like 800 people in Soweto and speaks. I remember walking out, we had 700 extras. They knew they were making a Nelson Mandela movie, but they didn't know who was playing Nelson Mandela. And I stand up on stage and start my speech. But the first reaction was, isn't that the guy from Daddy's Little Girls? I literally could hear people saying that. Isn't that Stringer Bell? I could hear them saying it. But then when I started to do the speech and I started getting into it and, you know, first take, first take, four cameras rolling, people in the front row, middle, crying. Like someone crying. Some of the older generation were like, wow, what is going on here? Because it resonated. Yeah. And you know, Nelson was a passionate speaker. So yeah, that was a fond memory. It definitely changed my insecurities about not looking like him, not even being South African, being from West Africa definitely made me, you know, they clapped, stand in ovation time and time after time after each speech. And yeah, it helped me, helped me a lot. It was a request. I wanted to go to Robben Island and see it. And they do tours there. You know, you go Nelson's cell. You can't go in. But they let me in. Essentially, it was preserved pretty much how it had it before he left. And then I said to them, is it possible for me to stay here for a night? And they were like, no, what are you talking about? No one sleeps on Robben Island. No. And I kept asking, kept asking. And then eventually they got all the way to the sort of organization and they said, you know, he just would like to stay. He said, well, okay, but he can't stay in Nelson's thing. There's another wing, which is empty and has been since the eighties. And essentially, if that's what he wants to do, we can give him a sense of that. And he said, okay, but you understand he wants to be there by himself. He wants to get locked in and he wants the same hours that Nelson did. So I get there, um, at the end of their day and there's one security guard and the producer comes to me and says, like, are you sure you want to do this? I was like, yeah, yeah, I want to do this. Okay. Now that Robben Island's, you know, big islands, but the prison is set away from the water well in. So the security guard walks me down to this empty cell. They give me a phone and says, for insurance purposes, if anything happens to you, you need a phone, right? And then you call the security guards and I'll come and let you out. If anything happens, I was like, fine, no problem. I don't really want it. It's no, no, no, you've got to have it. The security guard goes back to where he's posted, which is miles away. I get in the cell, lock me in. I'm like, okay, well, walk around, blah, blah, blah. I think, uh, let me just check the phone and see if it's working. No signal. I was like, oh, well you really are stuck in here. I can tell you this though, that, um, the cell that it was haunted a hundred percent all night. I could hear distant voices. I could hear like someone was ratting a cup across the bars. I was going, hello, nothing. I put the phone on the torch and I was like, trying to see if I could see anything. And then I filmed a little bit. And what came back on the screen was this dust, like the dust on the, in the thing, the lens, but it was moving. There was no air in there whatsoever. All right. It's really warm. And the dust was going, I was like, yo, I was watching this thing. It was a definite ghost. And then sort of like in middle of the night, I'm sitting on the floor and I'm like, okay, hello. So I was sleeping on it. So it's hot. Suddenly you remember I had an ice bath or somebody put ice water on your face. Yeah. Suddenly from the window, this ice just went right across my face, down my arm, moved past. And I went, ah, hello, hello. It was hot, but the ice was on my face and then it sort of walked out. It was a ghost. A hundred percent. This man was a freedom fighter. He spoke for the rights of his people and they put him in that room for 19 years every night. And he slept with the light on, on the floor bucket to take a piss in. I mean, I just, I was so angry, but for me, it just gave me a lot of context. And I took that into my performance, I suppose. Nelson Mandela himself, when you had the prosthetics on, he saw you and he said, is that me? Yeah. Yeah. He said, oh, he's got the voice. He's very good. During the performance, there was this wave of like, and Princess Kate was sitting behind me. She tapped me on the shoulder. I was like, yes, your majesty. She gave me the phone and says, Nelson Mandela dies on the BBC news. I was like, what? Everyone was like, what? No, this can't be, can't be. They stopped the film, obviously. Lights came on, producers came down and said, um, it just, would you come down? I think we should just explain that. I'm really sorry we have to stop it. And his daughters were there. Oh, it's heartbreaking, man. Heartbreaking. Beast of No Nation. Seize it. Yes, sir. All of you that have never been listened to before and have seen your family killed. You now have something that stands for you. You now have something that stands for you. That is your defense. I think that was just a, an offer. They gave me an offer on it. I didn't know the book, but when I read the script, I fell over. I was saying, whoa. I mean, it was, it's a really good script. It's a great film, but it's just like, wow. Just broke my heart. You know, I'm typically not into telling just African trauma stories. I want stories that inspire and perhaps show Africa in a alternate light. You know, most films are always digging into the trauma, but this one was just like, man, you know, really, uh, touched my heart. Child soldiers, what they were going through. I get emotional thinking about it. It was just heartbreaking. I've got kids just seeing these kids go through that. Carrie Fukunaga is an amazing director, in my opinion, and we dug deep to get there. Dug deep, deep, deep. So Commandant was born and, you know, it's a very complex, odd character. I think there was a lot of consideration around sort of, what is it to bring young men to respect you? What does that layer look like? What is it they, what do they see? You know, Carrie and I talked about the charm of, of, you know, your favorite uncle who knows you smoke, but doesn't let you, doesn't tell your mom, you know, that guy. And we looked at that, we really sort of peeled the onion back on who that person was, trying to be a bit more like characterful with who he is. And my uncle was, um, he was the guy that taught me how to DJ. He was very much like that. He's like, cool guy. You want to drive my car? Come on, boy. Come on. I'll drive you. Do you have the keys? You know, you're like, yo. And I sort of mirrored some of that. It was interesting because, you know, there were so many extras, young actors who never acted before. They kind of looked up to me as an actor they recognize. And I became literally like the commander. I'd walk on set and they'd all stand up. Come on, that is here. Come on. It is here. 700 of them standing up. Come on. And I'll be like, you know, I'm acting right boys, but no, no, sorry. You're a commandant. Oh, I love your acting. And suddenly reality and character started to sort of merge a little bit. Uh, it is true. Yeah. We shot this scene, which Carrie was just obsessed that he wanted to shoot it properly, how it would have been. We're in Ghana, this waterfall, and you know, we're to shoot the action on the other side of the fall waterfall and come back. So we all traipsed up there. Going was all right on the way back. I mean, I don't know. We didn't have no safety meeting or nothing about this. It's crazy. But literally as I'm that light is there. That was the fall. It was like a 98, 800 foot chop was cascading. Whoa, whoa, whoa. And we did it. And the whole crew, we did it one time. Cameraman's walking backwards. I mean, I think about it now. I think like, right. I don't know if I'll do that again. Masters of the universe. I know how it feels to First of all, I was a big He-Man fan as a kid and I got the call saying they want to talk to you about He-Man. Are you interested? And I was like, Oh wow. They must want me to play Skeletor. I thought I was thinking, Oh, cause Skeletor's got a mask. They want the voice. Wicked. I'm in. Get there. It's like, Oh no, no, no. It's man at arms. I was like, man at arms. You mean the guy with ginger hair and ginger mustache? The white guy? Yeah. Me? Yeah. I'm worried about that. And I was Sounds familiar, but I've been here before, but let's go for it. I really admire Travis. I think he's an amazing director. It's really, really, really, really good. He gave me a sense of the scale and how he wants to approach this. And it was fun. It was fun. It was definitely great cast, great team, you know, really big movie. It was fun. The harder they fall, who here can drive a train? I said, everybody but him. My good friend, James Samuels is an amazing director. He said, dude, I've got the role for you. I want you to play this guy, Rufus Buck. I want you, need you for this. I was like, let's go do it. And it was like, you know, he's a great director. This was a big movie for him. And I was so there, so there to share the experience with him. You know, it was, it was, it was great. It was an unbelievable opportunity and it's an amazing role. But weirdly enough, the night before I flew out, I go to this big seminar. I speak with Lewis Hamilton and the first lady of Canada at the time and speak next day, travel. And then while I'm in the air, the world is changing beneath us. Literally, there was talk of this outbreak in Wuhan, China. I land and then I'm like, yo, there's no more planes coming in or out. They shutting the world down. I was like, why is that? This thing is going, going. I'm like, no way. It's crazy. So anyway, first thing I do get there, go to the production office. I meet everyone. I'm waving. I'm saying, hi, I'm hugging everyone, blah, blah, blah. They're like, okay, great. We're going to do a COVID test. We're going to make sure that everyone's cool before we start. That's, that's important. I said, okay, great. No problem. Boom, boom. Take the COVID test. Comes up positive. I mean, because COVID was so new, everyone was like, we're going to die. Everyone panicked. They locked me in a house, literally cornered off the street. I went, I bought a guitar. I ended up on the news because it's like, he came to the shop. He bought a guitar. They had to shut the shop down. It was a lot. I mean, he was in jail for a while and then he comes out and he's like this very stoic man. Yeah, I guess there was that, but I was in Albuquerque for a long time. They would not let me leave the country. You will return the money you stole from me by Friday noon, not a moment later. And you will add $10,000 on top of that. We'll call that interest. Something funny. How do you reckon I'm going to get that? You're going to rob a bank. I mean, cowboys, I was in my element. I loved it. I had my hat, I had my gun. I had the full beard. I loved it.