Anthony Stokes with a response to Idris Elba and his recent Marvel comments…
Recently, Idris dropped a huge spoiler for Avengers: Age of Ultron, and later started bad mouthing his experience working on Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World. He claimed that he felt silly during an VFX shot where he was in a harness with a helmet and hair piece, having just come from filming Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Part of me understands where he’s coming from but another part is extremely frustrated.
I don’t like making personal attacks on people, especially such a nice guy, so I’m going to try to be as fair as possible to Idris Elba here. I understand that being an actor can be a lot harder then people give it credit for. Most actors are very charming and grateful people, so when they complain we tend to be a little harsher than we should be. Every job has its perks and downsides, and I understand that it’s not fair to dismiss somebody’s complaints with their professional life due to how much more money they make than me.
That said, Idris needs to get over himself. What did he think was going to happen when he signed up for a multi picture deal with Marvel? Idris’ entire career has been made up of two types of movies – low grade thrillers (Takers, Obsessed, No Good Deed) or mediocre to solid blockbusters (Pacific Rim, Prometheus). It’s not like green screen is anything new to him. He has one truly great project he’s been involved with and that’s Luther, which is a truly amazing show and I’ll give him credit for that. But for someone who hasn’t seen Luther, you could say he’s the equivalent of Gerald Butler.
People are defending him, saying an actor of his calibre and prestige shouldn’t be doing a comic book movie. His co-star is Sir Anthony Hopkins, who won an Oscar for Best Actor even though he was barely in The Silence of the Lambs. We also have Stellan Skarsgard, another accomplished actor. Natalie Portman, Oscar winner. And that’s just in the Thor movies. If Mr. Sundance Robert Redford, Don Cheadle, Michael Douglas, Jon Hurt, Mark Ruffalo, Sir Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Benecio Del Toro, and Djimon Honsou can be in these movies and have fun and respect the fan base, then Idris Elba can.
On a side note, I’m a little taken aback that Joaquin Pheonix potentially turned down Doctor Strange due to the fact that he didn’t want to be tied down. He does one big Oscar drama a year. Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson somehow manage to find time to do prestigious award-winning movies, indie comedies, and their Marvel movies. But Idris is no Joaquin Pheonix, although he seems to believe he is. Other actors seem to enjoy these movies because they’re something new and a fun experience for them.
Idris seems like a nice guy and I can appreciate how prideful he must have felt portraying Nelson Mandela, and it’s quite possible it was one particular scene in Thor: The Dark World that frustrated him, but these type of things are better left unspoken, especially for something so many people are invested in.
Anthony Stokes is a blogger and independent filmmaker who also hosts the podcast Delusional Losers.
Originally published November 15, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
