Idris Elba is having a moment. A handsome, global rogue, Elba is the subject of much speculation about the future of the James Bond film franchise. He's portrayed Mandela. Most recently, he's starred in Beasts of No Nation, a film adaptation of the author Uzodinma Iweala's novel about child soldiers in West Africa.
In his career ascent, Idris Elba has charted an unlikely course for such a big picture actor—from the Shanolas nightclub in East London, where he DJ'd as a late teen, to the East Coast of the U.S., where he starred in HBO's prestigious television drama, The Wire; and then back to his native U.K., where Elba now stars in BBC's hit detective drama, Luther. In the past few years, Elba has also done voiceover work for a couple of popular video game series, including Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six.
While Idris Elba isn't lending his voice to the in-game cast of Rainbow Six Siege this time around, he's at least starring in a violent, blustery ad campaign for the new game. We met up with Elba in Manhattan to talk about his lifelong gaming habit, his trans-Atlantic fanbase, and the perils of portraying so many vigorous sociopaths in TV and film.
You’d previously done voice work for a couple first-person shooters. Are you a gamer?
I love to game. Pretty much all my life.
What are you generally into?
I love football games, and I love games like this. I did Rainbow Six: Vegas back in the day as well, on the old Sony PlayStation.
Are you into the Clancy novels at all?
No, I’ve not read any of them.
The commercial that you shot is pretty action-packed. It got me thinking about how even Luther, a police procedural, is a very intense and physical show for your character. What draws you to roles like that?
I feel like I’ve done all of the above. Luther is a procedural that has an intense, action-y sort of vibe—some of it is, but then some it is cerebral, heady stuff.
In the Rainbow Six commercial, my character is the one character that doesn’t do anything, really. He’s the creator who dodges bullets. I did it because I just love the game, and now I get a free copy, and also I just love this sort of content. If I was to cut a show reel together, this would be cool to be in it.
You’ve done games, TV, film, and you do music. Seems like a lot. Why do you live this way?
Why not?! When I was a kid, I had a big imagination. I’m very playful. I always have been. And I’m an only child. When you’re an only child, you just make up toys. When you don’t got friends, you just make up friends. As an adult, and as a creative being, I just like doing it all, man.
I do face criticism about it: stay in your lane. But...why? If I can do something, and I can do it well, then fair enough. If I can’t do it well, then I’ll stay in my lane.
What are the differences between what your U.K. audience expects of you versus your stateside fans?
At one stage, people knew me as Stringer Bell in the U.S., and they didn’t know me very well in England. Over the last three years, my reputation as a jack-of-all-trades has taken hold in people’s consciousness of me. Before, I was just a dramatic actor. A tough black guy. Now people see me as varied. Some people don’t like that, others enjoy it. For my life, it just gives me a more exciting palette of things to do. But in England and in America, my fanbase just sees me as an actor that they love. In America, they're just starting to know me as a DJ. In England, they’ve known me as a DJ since back in the day.
Let’s talk a bit about Beasts of No Nation. Cary Joji Fukunaga, the director, has talked about the movie as “taxing” to watch. But you’re on site, in rural Ghana, playing a mesmerizing sociopath. In what ways is the Commandant a taxing role for you?
It’s draining, emotionally. Yesterday I was doing a Times Talk, and someone asked me, what’s it like being that guy? A horrible despicable human being. But you know what? I’m a father. I love my children. I can’t watch anything about kids getting hurt. Anything like that. Makes me cry. Immediately. I put my hands up. So being in a film where I’m that guy was definitely, emotionally draining. All I wanted to do was go home and hug my children—ah, it’s OK! I love you!—to make myself feel better.
With the way I get into characters, you just have to give your soul to it. Otherwise it comes across as faking it, or as bad acting. There’s a very fine line between faking and channeling that kind of emotion. And it’s draining. If I’m on a set screaming and shouting all day, trust and believe that 90 percent of my soul is screaming and shouting all day. Five, ten percent of it is acting.
But then how do you detox from performances like that? After you’re done hugging your children.
I got back my hotel room, where usually I’ll have my laptop and a drum machine, and maybe turntables. I’ll do some remixes. I know that sounds stupid, but really that’s the easiest way for me to escape that frame of mind. Or, if I’ve got a console, I’ll play a game. No joke. I’ll do something with headphones that’s just me-me-me. When I’m making beats, I start off with a clean template. When I’m playing a game, I just get deeper and deeper and deeper.
