FEBRUARY 2017GQ.COM.AU 43mottoisthatwedon’tlookat
colour–ifyou’rerightforthe
job,you’rerightforthejob.If
Icanencouragemorepeopleto
do that then more opportunity
willcome–alotmore
interesting work might come
from it as well. You know, when
youandIaregone,ourchildren
arenotgoingtohavethesame
angstaboutthecolourdivide,
thegenderdivide,disability
versusnone–thehumanraceis
goingtoevolve,we’renotall
goingtobeseparatedbycolour.
GQ:Wehopeso.Still,there
wasrecentbacklashaboutyour
role inTheDarkTower–people
wailingthatinthenovel your
character’s white.
IE:IfI’mhonest,Ididn’tpay
much attention. But what I like
aboutthatreactionisthatit
opens forums for debate about
castingandhowmuchourown
stereotypes influence film. The
truthofthematteristhatyou
writeastoryaboutahuman
being,notaboutacolour.
GQ: Which is pretty much what
StephenKingsaid–thathe
didn’twritewithraceinmind,
itwassimply,‘Howquickcan
thisguydrawagun?’
IE:Andthearchetypeforthis
characterisClintEastwood.
Idon’tcarewhatcolouryouare,
butyou’renevergoingtobe
ClintEastwood.It’sashame
that people get angry about
ablackmanbeingcastinwhat
couldbeconsidereda‘white’
role, but ultimately it opens
updiscussionsandifIdon’t
break the mould, then maybe
those discussions end up
dissipating and more people
startthinkinglikethat.
GQ:Waslackofdiversityin
roles why you bailed Britain for
America early in your career?
IE:ThetruthisthatIwantedto
be in the American market,
becauseit’sabiggerscale.
All the biggest stars and the
greats seem to come from there
–actuallymanyhadsimilar
backgroundstome,buttheyall
endedupbeinginthisamazing
place, making incredible TV
andfilmandplayingamazing
characters. So I wanted to do the
same. Look, diversity was part
ofit,too.Wasthereashortage
of imagination in England at
thetimewhenitcametothe
characters being written? Yeah,
absolutely.ButIstillworked
allthetime–Ididn’tgo because
Icouldn’tgetwork.
GQ:Buttherewasaglass
ceiling in the UK?
IE:Ye a h , t here’s on l y s o f a r you
cangoinacertainmarketwhen
there’sonlyfourTVchannels.
IwantedtogotoAmerica
where there’s a bigger, bigger,
BIGGERplayingfield.Idon’t
regretit.Ihadagoodtime
and America afforded me my
‘international’career.Icame
back to England more well
known.AsIsay,tobeknownin
Australiatoday,ofallplaces,just
blowsmyfuckin’mind.And
Americaopenedthatupforme.
GQ:Muchoftheattentionand
praise heaped onThe Wirewas
retrospective. Was work still
abitofastruggleevenafter
playing Stringer Bell?
IE:Wel l, it cha nged my c a reer,
andtheeffectsareongoingnow,
but back then, less so. After
The WireIdidn’tmakeaTV
show or anything close to that
for years – untilLutheractually.
Everything was popcorn films,
little bits of interesting work
andsmallindependentfilms.
Still,IgotMandela: Long Walk
to Freedombecauseofthe
The Wire,withoutdoubt.
GQ: Mandela must have
beenarolethatcamewith
tremendous pressure?
IE:It was massive pressure,
yeah.WhenIlookback,Iwish
we hadn’t made that film then
–itwasamazing,butitwastoo
muchofapilltoswallow
knowingthegreatmanwasn’t
goingtobewithusmuchlonger.
Butplayingthecharacterwas
oneofmyproudestmoments.At
firstIthoughtitwasajoke.Iwas
tooyoungandnotqualifiedto
play Nelson Mandela, you know,
‘Whatareyoutalkin’about–
me?Surelytheyhaveme
confused with Denzel?’
GQ: And it’s true that
Mandela died the day
you premiered the film?IE:Yeah... That was hard.
GQ:It’sbeensaidthatyou
werequiteclosedoffasakid,
happy to stand at the back and
avoid attention. So why acting?
IE:I was never the life of the
party.ButIhaveamassive
imagination, and one that just
swellsandcomesoutofmyeyes
andears.Andasanactor,Ican’t
sit still, and there’s other things
Iwanttodo.Why?Well,notto
beinthespotlight–that’sjust
residue. It’s about being able to
expelmybrain,becauseitjust
doestoomuchandmyheart
wantstodosomuch–it’sa
release. And maybe I secretly
wanted to be the guy that made
everyone laugh, and I couldn’t
do it in real life but I could do
itinafilm.
GQ:Thatenergy’swhyyoustill
DJandpushlifetotheextreme- like what you’ve done for the
Idris Elba: No LimitsTV series?
IE:It’sthatandbecauseI’mjust
notsatisfiedtousethe12per
cent of my brain, or whatever,
that I’ve been allocated to use,
Iwanttotryandpushitabit
more.Whenyou’reanactor
andhavesomeinfluence,
especiallyovermen,peopletend
toemulateyou.I’dratherpeople
emulate me doing things that
areoutsidemycomfortzoneas
itmakesthempushoutsidetheir
ownboundaries.Ijustfeellike
that’smylegacy,sowhenIleave,
it’slike,mate,IdidwhatIdid
butalso,Iinfluencedafew
people to do other things. My
matesactuallycallmethemale
Oprah...Moprah.That’sagood
useofbeinginthespotlight.
GQ:Righto,Moprah.Aspartof
that series you broke the land
speedrecordinacar.Isgoing
that fast better then sex?
IE:NO!Man,greatsexwill
alwaystopthelist–it’sjust
that I probably won’t be
making a documentary
about it anytime soon.
GQ:Youdrivefastcarsand
have a Thai kickboxing fight
coming up. Then there’s the
swagger and the charm. There’s
a throwback masculinity about
you. Where do you think we’re
at, as men? Is there this sense
of fear that cloaks being
proudofbeingaman?
IE:Ifeelya,andIhearthatabit.
WithLuther, that character,
masculineornot,defines
himselfbygoodversusevil.
Good old fuckin’, ‘I’m getting
himfordoingthat’andit’s
unapologetic. I think you’re
right–there’safeelingthatif
you’re too masculine, you’re
almost chauvinistic. You know,
asexywomanisnotanyless
smart because she’s sexy, right?
So, therefore I’m not any less of
anicepersonifI’mmasculine.
Atthesametime,ifyoulook
backtothetimeinTVwhen
masculinity was celebrated,
it was coupled with bigotry
and that’s not fuckin’ cool.
Look, my son’s two-and-a-half
[Elbaalsohasadaughter,aged
14]andI’mteachinghimthat
being a man means opening
doors, apologising when you’re
wrong and having respect.
GQ:Whatwasyourupbringing
in East London like? Was
ittoughattimes–didyou
hustle a bit to get by?
IE:I’manonlychild,myparents
didn’t have a lot of money and
asIsaid,I’veabigimagination
and wanted what I wanted,
soyeah.WhenImovedto
Canning Town, before East
Ham,Iwasataboys’school
and everyone had this like
fuckin’EastLondonbig
bravado bullshit going on.
Ihadtofitin,soIhustledand
Iworked.Iworkedhardfrom
14 onwards, Saturday jobs tyre-
fitting and paper rounds.
Iwantedmoneytohavethe
clothestolookgood.Andat14,
I had this Mini Cooper, which
I’d bought for 50 quid and was
driving about and my mum andG
&A