Idris Elba Once Channeled Real-Life Heartbreak to Film an Emotional ‘Luther’ Scene: ‘I Was in Tears’
Actor Idris Elba has had many memorable and iconic scenes in the hit TV series Luther. But there was one scene in the earlier seasons of the show that hit Elba particularly hard.
Using real-life sadness for the scene in question, Elba ended up taking his character John Luther in a very emotional place.
Idris Elba once discovered that a son he was expecting wasn’t his biological child
As many might know, Elba opened up about an emotional and troubling period in his life. The actor was in a serious relationship with a woman he’d met in Florida. His girlfriend at the time would eventually become pregnant and give birth to a boy, who Elba assumed was his biological child. At the time, Elba was ecstatic by the news.
“The celebration of having a son—from a man’s perspective, it’s massive,” he once said in an interview with GQ.
He’d even told friends, family and other publications about the news. But Elba would later learn from another party that the child might not have been his. It was something he suspected when he noticed there was very little resemblance between himself and the newborn.
“It wasn’t immediately obvious—well, it was, because he didn’t look like me,” Elba said. “But it wasn’t immediately obvious what had gone down.”
A paternity test would later confirm an upset Elba’s suspicions.
“To be given that and then have it taken away so harshly,” he continued. “[It] was like taking a full-on punch in the face: POW.”
Idris Elba once channeled his real-life emotion for a heartbreaking ‘Luther’ scene
Elba didn’t let the incident overwhelm him. Instead, the Beast star dusted himself off and used what happened as a learning experience.
“I stood right the f*** back up, and I ain’t aiming to take another punch in the face ever again. Do you understand what I’m saying? It happened to me. I moved on,” he added.
But Elba also drew from the incident in a different way. While doing a scene in Luther, Elba couldn’t help tap into the genuine feelings he had from the experience. The script called for John Luther to be angry after the character went through a situation slightly similar to what Elba did.
“And you have to understand, I had just gone through the worst thing in my life with, you know,” Elba said.
The result was a very emotional sequence that also proved to be cathartic for the megastar.
“So Luther came at a time where, you know, it was gaga therapy for me, man. Stupid. I was like, ‘I’m going in…’ And that is what I f****** did. I’ll tell you: I did that take, and I remember the room…Indira Varma, the beautiful Indian actress—beautiful girl… The crew were at this end of the room, all packed in. Indira was over there. And I f****** let go,” he said.
The moment not only affected Elba himself, but his co-star and love interest.
“Like, all kinds of s*** happened in my head. I mean—blitz. F***** up this door, I mean f***** this f****** door up. The emotion was going so long after the f****** actual scene was ended that everyone sat in silence. Indira was in f****** tears; I was in tears,” he said.
Idris Elba uses ‘Luther’ for therapy
Elba has become quite accustomed to channeling certain real-life feelings or grievances through Luther. So much so that The Wire star once felt it was therapeutic being in the shoes of John Luther.
“I always go to Luther when I’m at my most grumpiest – if I feel s***, it’s time to play some Luther,” he once said at a press conference according to Digital Spy. “I use John Luther as a little bit of a therapy session – and I think it’s that for [writer] Neil Cross as well. We both use it as a cathartic experience.”
