Ever since The Wire, Hollywood has really liked the idea of Idris Elba, even if they haven’t found many ways to make use of him. He was in the recent Thor and The Losers, and will be seen in the upcoming Alien-linked Ridley Scott movie, Prometheus. However, considering he often seems in contention for big roles but doesn’t get them, Tinsel Town is using him as much as they could, or seem to want to.
However last week he sent a tweet that ingnited a lot of interest, when he said, Having one of the biggest meetings of my professional life today meeting a very controversial director for a very controversial part. Many wondered what it was, with lots of speculation that Elba would be meeting Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained, about playing the title character (a part that’s been rumoured for Will Smith).
It could still have been for that movie, but The Wrap is suggesting another possibility, as they say Guillermo Del Toro is interested in him for a lead role in his human-controlled-robots versus aliens flick, Pacific Rim. Charlie Hunnam is said to be playing the main male lead in Pacific Rim, and it may well be that Elba will join him, in a currently unspecified part.
I’d still bet it’s more likely Elba’s tweet was about Django than Pacific Rim, just because Del Toro isn’t exactly a controversial director, and while Tarantino isn’t really either, he fits the bill more. But we’ll have to wait and see.