E-mail a friendIdris Elba
airdate April 13, 2009
British import Idris Elba is making his mark in Hollywood. Known as "Stringer Bell" in HBO's critically acclaimed series, The Wire, he's had various TV show guest spots, including on NBC's The Office and HBO's new series No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. He also stars in the feature thriller, Obsessed. Elba started his career on the London stage and, by age 24, was a mainstay on British television. A self-professed "music nerd," he's been working on a CD and, this summer, is performing at festivals in England.
Obsessed star says he sees himself as a rising talent. (1:46)
Full interview. (10:37)
Idris Elba
Tavis: Pleased to welcome Idris Elba back to this program. The former star of "The Wire" is a popular new edition to the hit NBC comedy, "The Office." More on that in a moment.
You can also catch him starring April 25th and 24th, that is, in the new film, "Obsessed." The film also stars Beyoncé. Here now, a scene from "Obsessed."
[Clip]
Tavis: I'm going to let you explain that. (Laughter) You want to explain that, sir?
Idris Elba: Well, what you just saw - Ali Larter, the beautiful Ali Larter plays a character that falls in love, I guess, or falls in obsession for my character. I play a man that's climbing the ambition ladder, married to the beautiful Beyoncé, his character, and he hires someone for the day, and it's Ali's character and she falls in love with my character and that's it, that's how it works.
Tavis: All right, so you're trying to tell me that you didn't do nothing?
Elba: Yeah, well, no. Exactly.
Tavis: She just fell in love with you.
Elba: It was the charm and it was a little bit of (laughter) a pat on the shoulder at the wrong time, but nothing went down. (Laughs)
Tavis: When I saw that - and it's impossible to miss - but when I saw the billboard before I knew you were coming on the show, all around town you see the billboard of the three of you. You can tell by the pose on the billboard that something's going down, so the studio did a really good job of letting the billboard give you a pretty good idea what the movie's about.
The only question I had was, a la "Fatal Attraction," whether or not Idris had done anything to bring this on himself. That's all I wanted to know - what did the brother do to make this go down.
Elba: I really - I would love to tell you, but if I told you, I'd give away the plot. (Laughter) It's definitely - this guy, he's feeling himself a little bit. He's married and he lets, I guess, his ego take over a little bit, and that's what happens.
Tavis: Are there certain - how do I want to ask this? Are there certain persons who you have had or hope to have the opportunity to work with that you are confident that when you look back on your career years from now you'll be glad or you'll see as major benchmarks the fact you worked with this person, that person?
I really want to work with this person, I'm glad I did, because in the body of my work I want to be able to say that I worked with Pacino, De Niro, whoever it might be - Beyoncé, you tell me.
Elba: Yeah, yeah. I think that's a good question because there have been many influence sin my career from the first costume director to give me a job in New York, who I can then say now she helped me move forward.
In terms of other performers, when I did "American Gangster" I worked with both Ridley Scott and Denzel Washington, and those are two people that were on my list of people that I admired and that I'd love to work with. So I got two of them out in one shot in that film.
Moving forward, there were a few directors. Of course the Spielbergs of the world, the Martin Scorseses, the Spike Lees of the world, these are directors that I - but as we move forward there are some undiscovered new talent people that are arising just like I am, and I want to put them on my list to work with.
Tavis: I'm curious now as to how you think you make the transition from rising new talent to becoming a household name. Because a whole lot of folk in this business - everybody in this business wants the same thing. They know that at some point they're going to be a rising talent, and the hope and the dream is to get to a point where you are a household name. What has to happen for you, that you can control, at least, to get to this place?
Elba: I think it needs to come to a point where I'm actually making the choices of the films. I make those choices. But understand that "Obsessed" will lead to something else that is because of "Obsessed," or because of the success of "Obsessed," or because of how Beyoncé, who is a world icon, is in that film.
Those things are going to contribute to me moving on to the next project. But when I get to a stage where it really isn't about the success of my last film, it's about my audience recognizing Idris is in this film or Idris is a part of this film, that's something then - he represents a brand or he represents a story that I want to see.
And that's, I think, one of the - that's when I know I'm transitioning to new, emerging talent to someone who owns their own space.
Tavis: Obviously, getting the chance to talk to actors on this program all the time every night, some on their way, as you said, to becoming stars; others who have long since been there. And everybody has a different philosophy about whether the strategy ought to be to get as much work as you can, with almost little regard to what that work is - just get work, get seen.
And there are others who are like, you know what? You may work less, but it's really about the choices of film and theater and television roles that you make that will decide whether or not you get to this point. It's about the choices that you make.
Elba: Yeah. It is definitely about the choices, but it's also about staying viable within that marketplace, and it's tough. And I hate the term Black actor - I hate that - but it's tough for Black actors because we're living in an economy that we're struggling - everyone's struggling. So now we have to make choices based on can we eat or not.
And we've always had to do that because there's been less work. So if you can find a way to stay viable in the marketplace and at the same time make the right choices to help your career move forward, then you're (unintelligible). And not everyone gets that opportunity. I've been lucky to have that, but I think variety is the key.
Tavis: Well, I figure - speaking of variety, I figure with "Obsessed" and "The Office," your mortgage should be covered for the next few months. (Laughter) You should be okay on the mortgage, at least.
Elba: I think I'll be all right for the next six months.
Tavis: Tell me about "The Office" and your role here now.
Elba: "The Office" is a treat. It came through to us - the entire team that promotes and makes "The Office" are big fans of "The Wire," have been, so they wanted to extend. Amy Ryan was also on "The Wire," was also a recurring character.
I play the straight guy. I'm not designed to be funny. My character's designed to be a very straitlaced, corporate type, and the scenarios that I'm in are the funny scenarios. It's great fun. Steve Carell is a master at his comedy. They're all very good at it. They've been doing it for five years, so they do it really well.
Tavis: Yeah. When Idris walked on the set - he has a button. Can you see this, Jonathan? How well can you see this button he's wearing? Oh, good, that's pretty good. So now that we are approaching the 100 day mark, how long you going to wear the button?
Elba: Well, I think - the button is my sign of solidarity. I'm just very proud of the whole thing, and the hundred days are on us now and the support is still there 100 percent - I mean 100 percent. We supported him going into office; I'm supporting him while he's there.
Tavis: How are your fans, friends, relatives, viewing this in those parts of the world where you're from?
Elba: Well, my parents live in England and the rest of the family are - the majority of them are in Africa. And there's just, like, flag-flying and as if they were right there at the inauguration. My dad was on the phone with me. It's like, "I can't believe this." He's in tears. (Laughter) Obama was just in England, and it's really ironic because my dad - I don't know where he got this. Maybe you might have to find this fact out.
But apparently Obama said that his favorite show was "The Wire." And I was, like, "Really?" And my dad called me up. (Laughs) He was really excited about that. He said, "Your boy loves you, man." (Laughter) I said, "Oh, okay."
Tavis: Now the true story about why he's wearing the button. (Laughter) The truth always comes out, doesn't it? The president likes "The Wire" and that's why we're wearing it. He ain't' supporting Obama. He liked the button because we like him because he likes us. I get it now.
Anyway, we like Idris Elba. He's been back on this show a couple times now. You can see him everywhere - "Obsessed" with Beyoncé in movie theaters, of course, April 24th, and "The Office." All these "the" titles - "The Office," "The Wire."
Elba: I know.
Tavis: The star - Idris Elba. Nice to have you on the program.
Elba: Thank you, boss, appreciate it.
Tavis: Good to see you.
Elba: You, too.
Back to April 13, 2009