Idris Elba Responded To The Idea That His James Bond Would Be ‘Too Street’

So Idris Elba is apparently “too street” to play James Bond. At least that’s what James Bond author Anthony Horowitz thinks, or at least the term he used to describe his feelings on the idea of Elba playing 007 in the future. Let’s revisit, shall we?

“For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It’s not a colour issue. I think he is probably a bit too ‘street’ for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah.”

That is a heavy statement that obviously could be taken in many different directions. One of those little tricky minefields that language can lead us into from time to time. People obviously took the comments a certain way, though, and responded in turn. So Horowitz responded and apologized:

And look, I think we can give the benefit of the doubt here. Elba did play some very tough, street characters that James Bond could never hang with. But that still doesn’t mean Idris Elba couldn’t play James Bond on the screen (and it doesn’t excuse the stupidity of thinking “street” isn’t a good fit for Bond).

Elba himself decided to respond to the comments on Instagram, taking a screenshot of a story and keeping things positive “from the Street.”

https://instagram.com/p/7GtPfvzGHh/

And they say this guy couldn’t play James Bond. He could charm the hell out of some oddly named sexpot henchwoman with machine gun boots.

(Via Idris Elba)