Idris Elba joked about his James Bond casting rumors on the latest episode of Saturday Night Live. Elba’s name has been talked about for years as being the actor to take over for Daniel Craig in the 007 franchise. The actor has been working a lot lately and just finished production on the Fast and Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, where he plays the main villain with some supernatural powers.
In a new Saturday Night Live sketch, Idris Elba plays a contestant on a game show called Can I Play That? Keenan Thompson is the host of the fictional show, which is produced by Twitter and pokes fun at rage culture on the social media platform. The contestants have to guess whether or not they themselves can play a role or a famous actor/actress. Throughout the sketch, Elba’s David character is confused with the game, but he starts to figure it out as the game goes on. When Thompson asks, ‘Can you play James Bond?’, Elba’s David character says that he knows the answer to that one. Thompson retorts, “Do you?” The show then goes to a commercial break.
The joke is a small, but humorous glimpse into the rumors that have circulated for years about Idris Elba starring in the James Bond franchise. The actor himself has downplayed the rumors, noting that he believes that he is too old to play the part. However, his answers do seem pretty sarcastic. Elba had this to say in 2016.
“If I’m really honest, man, I think I’m too old for that. I can’t be running around in cars and ladies and martinis – who wants to do that? It sounds terrible!”
The rumor all started back in 2014 during the infamous Sony email hack. Former Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-chairman Amy Pascal stated that she wanted Idris Elba to be the next James Bond in a leaked email with rumors and speculation following for the last five years. The talks were reignited again over the past summer when a reported leak from director Antoine Fuqua and Bond producer Barbara Broccoli found its way online. However, that report was later debunked and we’re back to the drawing board.
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For now, Daniel Craig is playing the iconic character one more time for James Bond 25, which is set to hit theaters on April 8th, 2020. After that, the role of 007 is up for grabs and Idris Elba may be the one to take it on. Fans of the franchise are into the idea and he certainly has the acting chops to take the role in a new direction. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens after the release of the next movie. For now, we can watch Elba joke about it below, thanks to the Saturday Night Live YouTube channel.
