Following a digital assault on the computer systems Sony Pictures Entertainment saw a number of emails sent by its staff surface online.
Much to the surprise of fans of the fictional character James Bond one email between two executives revealed that the Black British actor Idris Elba was one of many actors being considered to take on the role once Daniel Craig cuts ties with the character.
Today, a Bond author Anthony Horowitz has revealed that he feels Elba is incapable of playing the character “rough” and “street” for the role.
More below…
In an interview with the Daily Mail he shared:
For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It’s not a colour issue. I think he is probably a bit too “street” for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah.
His comments were met with criticism by movie lovers who took to social media to lambast his confusing estimation of the actor.
Then, after challenging Hollywood’s murky relationship with actors of colour the rapper Azealia Banks weighed in on the matter.
Read her words from the bottom up:
Our thoughts?
It’s ben fascinating to watch so many critics cite the fictional Bond’s Scottish heritage as the reason the black Elba should be barred from playing the character.
Why fascinating? Well, one has to wonder if said critics feel the same way about the actress Elizabeth Taylor portraying Cleopatra (who is said to have been of mixed ethnicity) or the plethora of the European actors who have played Jesus…who was anything but.
What do you make of the drama?
One of the few times where she makes sense.
She has never and will never make sense because she’s just an ignorant racist that refuses to admit so.
OK – I will ALWAYS want Idris to play Bond. But these words coming from the black b**** that dates old white men. GTFOH
Whatswrong with sleeping with white men? The problem is racists not white people.
Honey he can play knic knac in my patty wac ALL day long.
As usual Azealia Banks is 100 percent on point with Black Issues, unlike a certain other female rapper who only opens her mouth when she feels like the world owes her award nominations for songs about Black mens penises and subjecting Black women to being half naked in her videos!
When will people stop appropriating race to everything? I’m black and proud but it’s just a film about James Bond! I’m watching the film for the dramatic scenes I could not care less the colour of ANY actors in it! By stating the next James Bond must be black you are being racist yourself!
Is this is the case when will someone ask Tyler Perry to stop casting mostly black actors in his movies because going by the above stupid arguments that is also racism!
He makes those movies because Hollywood won’t give those actors roles. Do your research dear.
By research you mean the Internet? Because I’m guessing you haven’t called every Worldwide production studio to get their opinion? It’s just reverse racism! Like Hollywood hardly makes movies for the older actors/actresses in this day and age, so should they start calling the age card! I competely understand the point of why he makes these films but by having people like Banks say he HAS to be black and” ONCE YOU GO BLACK…” That is supremey and excluding sections of society again… Which is a shame.
@ TT.H.O.TLY
Sweetie…. Theres no such thing as reverse racism! There never will be!
Sweetheart I hope you have your notepad and pen because class is In session. America is still unable to deal with its guilt over racism and uses Hollywood to spread the idea that black people were deserving of what happened to them. It does this by writing stereotypical characters that limit the range of roles a serious black actor can play. Most writers are conditioned to write stories about people who look and live like them so the idea of putting a black person written for a white person is crazy to them so black actors are forced to take roles written for them by people who have a low and limited opinion of them. Instead of crying about it they have created their own projects and this irks Hollywood because these projects prove that they are more than capable of playing any character given to them. This is not reverse racism, this is taking matters into your own hands. Live it, learn it and love it darling.
@T.T.H.O.T.I.Y
you ar so true
and by the way azealia banks will use anything to bash “white people” because she is a racist
so don’t take her seriously
search this Sentence in google, i dont need to say more – “she ruined her music with her shity muth”
I wished they just said “Too Black” instead of street. No need to beat around the bush.
As for Bond he has been played by so many different actors, there was a big uproar when Daniel Craig played him because of his blonde hair, but now they love him, so let’s not focus on skin. Bond isn’t the same Bond from years ago. They need to start looking at Bond as a character and not a real life person, Idris will do the role perfectly, it will bring new viewers and hit a new audience, I see no issue.
Also I agree with Azealia, cast someone Asian next!!
I wish they had just said 5hitty actor instead if beating around the bush.
Calling him “street” makes absolutely no sense. Idris Elba is the least “street” and one of the most versatile black actors. Should have just said they don’t want a black guy cause that’s clearly the case.
To say he is “Too Street” is plain out racist! I cannot think of a better black man to play James Bond than Idris Elba! This is right down his alley in a movie role. Him or Chadwich Boseman would be perfecf! The same white ppl complained when they gave Michael B Jordan the role he played in his new film.
How did Fantastic Four turn out btw? Annie remake?
Said so well I don’t care what authenticty the next Bond is because YES it may have only been white actors playing that character, but as soon as a black bond male lead is cast very one will say he is just a “token” bond, no one can win in this situation!
Casting a non-white actor to play Bond will be a crime against the idea of it’s creator Ian Fleming, he wanted the character to be a white british man, facially, Bond resembles the composer, singer and actor Hoagy Carmichael, from which he got the inspiration of the looks of the character, simply as that.
So you mean to tell me that Sean Connery AND Daniel Craig resemble “Hoag Carmichael”?
Do you think the black people who Elvis stole music from wrote and recorded it with the intention of a white man singing and dancing to it like it was his????.
If only she directed her frustrations onto her music, she’d be huge(but that’s a topic for another day), it’s not to say she didn’t lie tho.
Idris would be perfect for the Bond but racist Hollywood thinks otherwise.
There probably is still some underlying racism at all levels of society but when did you check for yourself and speak to all these agents, producers, executives, promoters, directors, writers etc to make such a bold statement about “racist hollywood” by classing them in that group and using that word your are also part of the problem of being… Racist!
Listen to Her album honey. You clearly haven’t.
One person doesn’t doesn’t make it true! I agree with you points im just saying by being negative and having the same reverse view back isn’t helpful to anyone.
I can almost guarantee that you are not black or at the very least, you are very sheltered.
Bond is traditionally a white character, just because it’s 2015 doesn’t make it racist all of a sudden! If you take offense then let’s suddenly do sequels to Barbershop, Stella Got Her Groove back, Baby Momma, Roots and The Help to name a few with WHITE actors… Most of my black community would be in uproar which, too me that isn’t right!
Do you feel the same way about Ms Taylor playing Cleo?
Or Christian bale playing Moses? Natalie wood in west side story? Are you going to speak out about those not being “traditional” as well?
black people who feel like victims again ask for affirmative action when they dont need to
sips tea
Sip some mouthwash because your words are s*****. Black people do not act like victims, they act like a people who have r****, beaten, mocked and stolen from. It’s crazy that people who scream for gay rights sound just like racists when downplaying the plights of black people.
@Ovo Barbie
keep on crying baby
i love how you are THE perfect example for my words
listen to yourself – this is your words – “they act like a people who have r****, beaten, mocked and stolen from.”
time to grow up and take your head out of your ass
So those things I mentioned didn’t happen? Or are you one of those people who pretends that pathology and intergenerational trauma isn’t a thing.
@Ovo Barbie
I DONT KNOW WHATS WRONG WITH YOU
why you run to those places
why you want to claim those things as only againts black people?? are you living in a cage? cant you open your eyes and see whats going on in THE WORLD???
WAKE UP BUBLE BOY the world is not perfact and probbly it will never be
but to alwais cry about YOU
i feel sorry for you
all your life is about black black black – literally
Crying about the past everyday? You know me personally? I must say that it’s fun to watch you squirm and try to make me seem irrational for speaking my mind.
SUAVE IS EXACTLY WHAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU THINK OF ELBA, NOT ROUGH AND STREET. I’M SURE HE HAS LOTS OF VERSATILITY, BUT HE’S NOT KNOWN FOR BEING GHETTO OR TOO HARD. HOLLYWOOD MAKE EXCEPTIONS ON ALL KIND OF THINGS IN THE MOVIES. DON’T GIVE ME THAT ORIGIN CRAP, BACKGROUNDS OF CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN SWITCHED IN EVERYTHING FROM THE WIZ TO CATWOMAN. EVEN RELIGIOUS BASED MOVIES LIKE NOAH PUT A TWIST ON THINGS. WE WON’T EVEN GO INTO ELIZABETH TAYLOR PLAYING CLEOPATRA OR NATALIE WOOD CASTED AS A PUERTO RICAN IN WEST SIDE STORY. I DON’T SEE WHY A NEW DIRECTION WITH ELBA PLAYING BOND CAN’T WORK. LIKE AZEALIA SAID IT MIGHT BE AN ISSUE FOR THOSE THAT FILL ELBA’S SHOES AFTER HE’S DONE.
I understand what happened to our people and culture in history but a lot (not all) but most of those generations of people who weren’t educated have passed on and are no longer with us today. Yes a lot of progress still needs to be done I agree, but saying statements like “he must be black” and “you can’t go back..” Is just another form of racism and isn’t helping any cause it just makes our community look overly a very and play into the stereotypes that are in the media, when really we shouldn’t be fighting each other but be a collective.
Why fascinating? Well, one has to wonder if said critics feel the same way about the actress Elizabeth Taylor portraying Cleopatra (who is said to have been of mixed ethnicity) or the plethora of the European actors who have played Jesus… who was anything but.
Cleopatra was a greek born in Egypt, her family ruled the country at the time, the Ptolemy dynasty were the descendants of Alexander the great, she was the only one of her family to learn the Egyptian language, the family refused to speak anything other than greek, at the time royalty married between each other (brothers & sisters mostly) to preserve their pure “blood blue”, Cleopatra and her sister shared the same father but not the mother, the mother of Cleopatra’s sister was most probably a black servant (s****). Cleopatra was despicte as a typical greek in the dimes that circulated at the time, accept the fact that she was european, with a long big nose, stop claiming her.
Jesus
When talking about the son of God must black people accuse white people of portraying Jesus as white, let me educate some of you, while Jesus wasn’t white like George W. Bush is, he was still of the same race, yes!, white is not a race, Caucasoid is, the caucasian race is divided into many sub-categories:
Germanic:
(Scandinavians, Germans, Austrians, Duch people)
Celtic:
(Irish people, Scoths, etc)
Slavs:
(Poles, Czechs, Serbians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Russians etc)
Latins and Mediterraneans:
(Italians, French, Greeks, Portuguese, Spaniards)
Semitic:
(Middle Easterners, Arabs, Persians, Jews, people from North Africa)
[Dravidians] People from India:
(Yes, being caucasian has nothing to do with skin color, some Indians are darker than most black people but they’re still caucasians)
Jesus was a jew, a semitic ethnic group originally from the Levant, they were, are and will always be caucasian, of course like many middle easterners he wouldn’t be seen as white in America (USA) or Europe, because of their olive skin tone but their genes are Europid. Germans and Italians differs from each others but share the same genetics, in fact all Europeans share the same genes, this is also the case for all the people who belongs to the caucasoid race from the whitest (Scandinavians) to the darkest (Dravidians/Indians). Learn people learn, the caucasian race is the most diverse of all when it comes to phenotypes.
BEING CAUCASIAN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR SKING COLOR.
ONLY FACTS BABY
but i bet nothing will help the one’s who feel like victims because they love the easy way to get some things – CRYING LIKE A BABY!
Your points are debatable but lets say you’re right. If they weren’t black or white why is white the color of choice when picking actors to play them.
@Ovo Barbie
debatable ??? mannnn how can you debat about FACTS!!
THATS SO DUMB
I DONT KNOW WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU NEED TO FEEL LIKE A VICTIM BUT THATS NOT THE RIGHT PATH IFYOU WANT TO SUCCEED IN LIFE
Who said I have a victim mentality? Because I’m bold enough to speak out against what’s happened to my people? And re your “facts”. Don’t make me laugh. Answer my question. If Jesus was not white why is he played by white actors?
And let’s not talk about success. I am a university graduate with a diverse group of friends who makes enough money to put my little brother and sister through school. My knowledge of history empowers me.
@Ovo Barbie
BOLD?!?1? WHATS SO BOLD ABOUT CRYING ABOUT THE PAST EVERY SECOND?
ANY WAY YOU JUST A WASTE OF TIME
I DONT CARE KEEP ON CRYING
YOU ARE TOO BRAINWASHED TO SEE THE REAL WORLD
GOOD LUCK
Ummm…. Your “argument” is incomplete. All you did was state that Jesus was white and then proceeded to define what it means to be white… But you didn’t prove anything. I hope you realize that… You did not provide any proof to justify your claim that Jesus was white. You stated facts but didn’t bother to make a correlation. Soooo….
I dont think I did a good job wording that. I wanted to add that “Jewish” is an ethnic religion. Its an ethnicity by itself, not only a religion. I agree with you that people in America see would see a Jew as being Caucasian. But that doesn’t make the claim that “Jews are white” valid. That conception is 100% inaccurate. Being Jewish is its own race… And it is not “white”. There are Jewish people. There are white people who are Jewish. And there are other races… Who are Jewish. Being Jewish in most instances does not mean “white”. It means Jewish.
You still havent answered the muthafuckin question. Jesus was infact middle eastern. So why does hollywood always manage to protray him as an Anglo Saxon??????
i dont see idris as bond either and its not because he is black, its because as the author said, he is just too rough. Bond is suppose to be smooth… Imagine him saying the lines ‘bond…james bond’ or ‘shaken not stired’ and not cringe
The response to black people speaking out against injustice is so telling and I’m happy its happening. Notice how fast we are told to shut our mouths when the conversation gets too uncomfortable. It’s easy for us to judge Hitler for his crimes against humanity but why does America have such a hard time dealing with it’s own atrocities. Guilt. I am a happy person who loves all people but this does not make me blind to what is happening to black people in particular.
It’s not you speaking out about the perceived injustice; it’s the way you go about it. Look at that idiot Azelia Banks, throwing insults and making racist remarks towards White people. No educated person will listen to a thing she has to say.
And another thing. The media is only interested in equality and fairness when it suits those in power which is why black people who speak out against issues are angry and gay people who do the same thing are brave.
I somewhat agree with her. If they really want a black man to play James Bond, which I’m so here for, then they should get someone a little more decent. The perfect guy would be that black guy from the old spice commercials that every woman I know seems to get wet for. He is the perfect guy……and that booty on him is no joke too. He has nice, round, delectable cakes! Being black seriously comes with some advantages. I swear!
Changing the race of a long established character who has traditionally always been white comes across as phony, underhanded and unnecessary. This is like remaking House Party with Justin Bieber and Nick Jonas in the roles previously held by Kid N Play. No one would approve of that or be willing to give it a chance. It would be seen as forced, false, untrue, white-washing, appropriating, racist…and it WOULD be. Lets not pretend that the casting of Idris Elba as James Bond is about his competence as an actor, or how capable he’d be in the role. Instead it’s about PANDERING. It’s Hollywood’s attempt to be “progressive” in 2015 so that it can pat itself on the back. It’s disingenuous as hell. And if this movie flops, it’s going to damage Elba’s film credibility as much as Catwoman did Halle Berry’s.
I have no doubt that Idris Elba is fully capable of playing a suave, debonair action hero, in vein of James Bond. Why not just create a brand new character/movie and cast him in that? No matter how good or bad it is, I can tell you now that at least 60% of the conversation about the next Bond movie won’t be about the movie itself, instead it’s going to be all about race.
Sam, do something about these fuccccking ads that pop up every 20 seconds that crash my PC and constantly open unwanted apps on my phone (that I’m not gonna buy/download.) Even trying to type a reply becomes a task because this blog is so bogged down with ads that it barely move. Ironically, the excessive trolls aren’t as unbearable as the ads.
why don’t they create a black spy character instead
right boo?
if roles were reversed, people would be pressed
First yall want a black Anne and now a black James bond like stop! I don’t see it for him being JB sorry not sorry.
Who is Anne?
James Bond is a white Scotsman period
Ian Fleming the original creator desired him to be a white man and it should not be debated
And if you feel so pissed go create your own black spy of Congolese heritage
You never see white people whining “OH WHY IS STORM A KENYAN WITCH ??? WHY CAN’T SHE BE A BAVARIAN GODESS ???”
Let white people have their own distinct culture and stop attacking them when they want to preserve it
EXACTLY! No one has ever debated or tried to change Storm’s character.
That’s because white people receive fair and diverse representation. You don’t have to ask for what you already have .
Who cares? Want a real artst follow and like me on fb my new song beach comes out 30 november
Love Idris but I just don’t see him as a Bond, he’s a great actor but the role just isn’t for him.
If Hollywood dared to remake Shaft with Daniel Craig, Tom Hardy or some other white actor, black folks would be rightfully complain. So much so that no one would dare try that. I’m black and am 100% behind black actors getting more and better roles, but there’s no need to change James Bond’s race via the casting of a black actor. And who plays him after Elba? Does he go back to being white, or is he from now on a black character? This is nonsensical.
hollywood has never had a problem with changing the races of characters before. Why start now?
I believe in a black president but a Bond , I’d love that but ain’t gonna happennafter Daniel Craig . Henry Cavill is probably having the part .