Idris Elba on Why He Doesn’t See Himself as a Movie Star
Actor Idris Elba had many film credits to his name after breaking away from the television show The Wire. But he wasn’t sure if his accolades and film resume proved he was a movie star.
Why Idris Elba doesn’t see himself as a movie star
From Beasts of No Nation and Molly’s Game to Thor, Elba’s versatility has allowed him to tap into a variety of projects. But despite his contributions to cinema, Elba doesn’t consider himself on the same level of other blockbuster superstars. Although he saw his star-power potentially expanding in the later years of his career.
“I don’t consider myself a movie star,” he said in a 2022 interview with Angie Martinez. “And I feel now I’m getting into a lane where perhaps that is a possibility.”
Despite Elba’s prolific filmography, he didn’t feel he had the same level of commercial appear as other movie veterans. The ability for a star to sell out films based on their names alone was a power only few performers still commanded. When referencing actual stars, Elba felt his Hobbs and Shaw co-star Dwayne Johnson was ahead of him in that department.
“He can open a movie around the world,” Elba said. “It doesn’t matter whether he’s been in 16,000 Shakespeare plays or not, he can sell a ticket. My career has been very, very widespread. Lots of different things, and I’m supposed to be a respected actor. But that actual component which goes, ‘I’m gonna go to Australia and I’m gonna open this movie big.’ That’s like three percent of the overall actors, and I don’t think I’m there yet.”
Why Idris Elba might not be interested in being a movie star anymore
Elba went on to share that he was interested in movie stardom in his younger years. But overtime, certain aspects of celebrity made those aspirations less appealing. Many megastars like Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie have discussed the loss of privacy that comes with a certain level of fame. This was at odds with Elba, who still enjoyed what little anonymity he still had left.
“As I’m getting older, movie star comes with a lot of different things,” he said. “It means, I’m not allowed as a movie star to do something really obscure over on the left.”
He also wasn’t sure that he had the same personality as someone like Johnson, who often thrived in the spotlight.
“Dwayne is incredible because he has the personality type. He appeals to so many different cultures, interestingly enough. And I think he can do that. I don’t know about me. I’m a little too hood,” he added.
Idris Elba didn’t want to go back to doing television roles after acting in movies
The HBO series The Wire helped propel the actor’s career to new heights after he’d had much trouble succeeding in the industry. It opened up doors that allowed Elba to appear in other features like Denzel Washington’s American Gangster and Obsessed. But Elba would later return to the small screen in the series Luther, where he plays tormented crime detective John Luther. Initially, Elba had no intentions of doing anymore television roles before the BBC drama came his way.
“I didn’t want to go back to television,” he once told The Scotsman. “But the lead in a BBC drama feels like a pinnacle. He’s just a character with rage and passion that could be played by any number of great actors, white or black.”
Later on, however, Elba didn’t mind doing both television shows and movies at the same time. In a 2015 interview with Empire (via Time Out ), he shared that he even enjoyed it.
“For me, it feels even cooler to go off and do big films, then come back and knock the socks out of a really good TV drama,” he said.
