Idris Elba said no to an on-the-nose “black James Bond” reference.
Fans may be aware that in the upcoming movie, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Idris Elba will refer to his character as “Black Superman,” but they may not know that the line was originally slated to be “Black James Bond.” During an interview with Variety, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, revealed the joke was axed by Elba who saw it as “too close to what everybody’s talking about.”
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Johnson went on to add that he was the mind behind the new Superman line, “Everyone’s taking credit for it – Idris, our director, our producers, I’m sure, Jason Statham]… but] I came up with that. I said, ‘What about the black Superman?’ And everyone’s like, ‘Great!’ But] now everyone takes credit.” Elba also takes credit for the line saying it was improvised, “I was in one these takes and I was really riffing, and then it came out and director David Leitch] loved it, and so we kept it.”
Elba has been long rumored to be attached to future Bond films but it was recently announced that Lashana Lynch would be starring as 007 in the next series. The move to cast Lynch was a shocking twist to the traditionally white, male-dominated role. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is set to hit theaters on August 2nd but for now, you can check out the final trailer below.