At 53, Idris Elba Is Still Thirsted Over by Female Celebrities

Sorry, Idris Elba, you're making me a bit nervous. I'm just sociologically programmed to want chocolate on Valentine's Day. Idris Elba doesn't flirt with anyone. He walks in and the room does the rest. Sonny Hostin has held a straight face through 20 years of live television, political shouting matches, celebrity meltdowns, all of it. Then he sat down opposite her. When Idris came onto the show, we had a really special moment together. You did those stunts? He didn't even have to try. And professionals are supposed to be immune to this. One of them built a whole career on it. Emilia de Moldenberg has had opposite rappers, athletes, and A-listers in that chicken shop without blinking. Being unimpressed is the entire premise of the show. Then she booked Idris. In 2014, you won Rear of the Year award. What? Like, good bum award. How did you… Like, who's the research team on this? Me. Well, I'm the research team. This is a date, yeah? Speed date. I guess it is a speed date. It's quite quick. Yeah, it's quite quick for now. And then you will leave. Well, maybe. Well, I might leave. Don't leave. I've got places to be. Because that would be a first. Well, have you never had someone leave a date early? Me? Yeah. Come on. The premise survives. The composure does not. At least she tried to hide it. Lonnie Love gave up on hiding it years ago. The second his name enters the room, the professional bit is over. Lonnie? Yes? Listen up. I have some very exciting news to share with you. Your boo, the one and only Idris Elba is doing a contest for charity where the winner will get to be his date for Valentine's Day. What is your moment you've been waiting for? Oh, I actually know him. What? You haven't said anything about Idris, my boo, Elba. I'd like you to be my valentine. That's right, love. Just you and me. No one else around. Just us. Once we're feeling comfortable, we can order whatever your heart desires. Maybe some truffles, perhaps some steak, pepper soup and fufu. That's an African dish. And you pound the yams. And you know what? I'll let you pound my yams. Okay. Okay, Lonnie. She's made her peace with it. The voice, though, is a separate problem entirely. And she isn't the only one who's noticed. Trevor Noah decided to test it properly. He handed Idris the dullest, least romantic lines he could find, supermarket-level material, and pointed a camera at the result. I'm going to test your sexiness out. I want to see what the limits of your sexiness are. Really? Yeah. There are limits? There are no limits. Trevor, honestly. No, there are no limits. Hand sanitizer. Worst. It's the least sexy thing you can do. Yeah. Every day when I use it, I go, this is not sexy. This is not sexy. I use it. See? Yeah. Doesn't matter who you are. Cut the thing. Then you have to. You see? No, no, no. I'm the same. You're the same? I'm a hundred. All right. Do it. Straight into that camera there. Do it. Let's see. Just hand sanitizer. Yeah. Put a little bit on, you know. The lines were dead on arrival. The voice didn't care. Here's the thing about that voice. He once had to hide it. Auditioning for The Wire, Idris was told not to let anyone know he was an American. So he sat in a Brooklyn barbershop learning the accent, buried East London, and played Stringer Bell for three seasons. Nobody in America had a clue. Amy Poehler booked him on her podcast, Good Hang. She also turned up in a matching outfit. Coincidence is technically possible. Watch her face the second he walks in. Then watch the move she pulls with a shirt. Wait. What? Wait. Oh. Wait. We're twinning. Wow. Let's trade. Okay, let's trade shirts. What is that? We're going to trade shirts. We're trading shirts. Okay. This is exciting. And I have a feeling this is going to fit. This is not going to fit. No, I can tell. Let's see how far you can get into my jacket. Technically, you don't have to wear it because usually it's full of sweat. By the way, the shirt smells great. Listeners, if you wanted to know, the shirt smells great. Studied, deliberate, elite-level work. And she's single. The next two weren't. Priyanka Chopra was mid-sentence about her husband when somebody showed her a photo of interest from Heads of State. Oh, wow. Oh, look at that. Oh, wow. Cleavage on that day. Look at the cleavage. Like almost eight years later. Married. Seconds earlier, husband. Seconds later, whatever that was. At least hers wasn't in the room. This next one's worse. The woman queued in freezing weather outside the Today studio just for a glimpse of him promoting Luther. When he actually walked over, something in her system shut down. She was shaking, and it wasn't the cold. Then she opened her mouth. Hey, Kelly and Sean are right over here. What's up? How are you? She was here at what? Four o'clock in the morning? Really? Yes. To see you. You came this morning to see me? Yes. And does she not have the greatest husband in the world? You know what I'm saying? Yes. I want to give you a hug. Are you really cold? He said quickly. Oh, man. What's up? How are you? I love your work so much. Thank you very much. You're the best. Yes, you are. You are. Luther, the fallen son, streams on Netflix. Her husband was standing right beside her. He heard every word of it. None of this is news to the man himself. In 2018, People named him Sexiest Man Alive, only the third non-white actor ever given the title, and his first reaction was that it had to be a windup. Then he went and checked in a mirror and reported back, Yeah, you're kind of sexy today. His other concern was that his mom would be proud. Idris has filmed plenty of intense scenes over the years. What came out on the Graham Norton sofa is that there's one specific area of intimacy where his experience is thin, and his Mountain Between Us co-star, Kate Winslet, was more than happy to fill the gaps for the studio audience. Ladies, man, but you haven't actually done that many love scenes. No. Why is that? How is that? No, I just haven't had the opportunity. You know, I've done a lot of films where there's a lot of guys. I just haven't had the opportunity. That's no excuse. So I've done a few of these kinds of scenes before. And so we get there, and poor Hany, our director, he's such a lovely man, and he was really quite nervous. And Idris was, you were a little bit nervous, weren't you? Not really, no. Okay. Put the camera over there, and we're going to do this, and we're going to do that. And then Idris said, keep your socks on, and I'm like, keep my socks on? So I've got a foot thing. I've got a thing, you know, just a thing. I wanted socks to come off, and they were, you know. Hobbit feet. Things going on. Listen, I've got very, very big feet, and they're not particularly beautiful feet either. They're alright. I shall keep them inside the shoes that they're in. Anyway, so I'm thinking, well, poor Idris doesn't want to see my feet, because maybe he just does not like feet in general, and that's the whole thing. It's the opposite, ladies and gentlemen. Idris loves feet. She shot the scene. She handled the day. Then she told the entire country something he probably assumed stayed between them. And she wasn't finished. Outing his private business on national television clearly didn't get it out of her system. In a separate interview, she walks in and seems to forget the cameras exist. No character to hide behind this time. No script. No scene partner to blame. Just Kate Winslet, unable to break eye contact, doing exactly what she wants. Twice. In public. Not a flicker of shame. Then again, she had time to prepare herself. Nobody warned this next one. Kristen Ritter has built a whole career on women who don't flinch. Jessica Jones, Jane from Breaking Bad. She plays the ones who stare people down. Then Idris crept up behind her mid-interview. Three seconds. The woman who throws people through walls? Completely gone. The funny part is that she's the one who plays a fighter. In 2016, at 44 years old, Idris spent a full year training in Japan, Thailand, and Cuba. Then walked into your call in Bethnal Green for a professional kickboxing bout. With Madonna filming it from ringside. Discovery built a documentary around it. That night, he wasn't playing a hard man. He just was one. So that's actresses, the hosts, and the journalists handled. Regular people were never going to survive this. A mom posted something about Idris online. Expecting it to disappear into the timeline like everything else does. He replied. You wanted to give him a little tickle? I sure as hell do. And guess what? It's more than a damn little tickle. Okay? We are replying to someone's comment. And he goes by the name of Idris Elba. No. Did you say that Idris Elba commented? No, he did not. You're lying. Lord, listen to me Idris. You know I've died and gone to heaven, don't you? My gosh! That isn't a sentence. That's a noise. And there's one name left. From the most decorated woman on the list. Jessica Lange has been at the very top of this profession since the 70s. Oscars, Emmys, Tonys. She has played everything and worked with everyone. And nothing rattles her. None of that is visible here. What is visible is a woman watching Idris Elba the way you watch something you've already decided you want. That isn't a glance. That's a decision. So, which reaction broke you the most? Drop it in the comments. And if this video ruined your focus for the rest of the day, that's on Idris, not us. Like, subscribe, and come back for more.