The London-born actor is taking Luther’s tweed coat to the big screen in The Fallen Sun, and dreams of kicking off a franchise to rival Mission Impossible. And he’s still finding time to write, direct, DJ and work for the UN
A couple of years ago on the BBC show Famalam, comedian Tom Moutchi did an amusing sketch called Idris Elba Can Do Anything. Wearing Elba’s trademark long Luther coat and soundtracked with a parody rap (“Bitch. I’m. Idris. Elba”), he saunters into various scenarios – a coffee shop, a cancer research lab, the Large Hadron Collider – and basically bosses the situation, despite his obvious lack of expertise. “I’ll tell you why I know I’m an excellent barista: I’m Idris Elba. I’m an actor, writer, director, DJ, influencer, producer, rapper, comedian, kickboxer.” Elba himself found the sketch so funny, he invited Moutchi to appear with him, as Elba, at an awards ceremony. In other words, Elba bossed even this situation.
Elba has only added more sidelines to his CV since then: podcaster, wellness entrepreneur, restaurateur, wine importer, fashion designer, UN goodwill ambassador. Scrolling through his Twitter feed of the past few months, he has been everywhere: in traditional robes at a festival in Ghana; wearing a sharp suit at the Gucci show in Milan; accepting a Time100 Impact award in Dubai with his wife, Sabrina Dhowre; at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He is currently working on a new album. He has hardly slacked off on acting, either: big-budget franchise movies (Thor, The Suicide Squad, Fast & Furious), playing Tilda Swinton’s djinn (in George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing), gunslinging in the wild west (The Harder They Fall), voicing wild cats (The Jungle Book), fighting wild cats (Beast), being a cat (er … Cats). He never seems to sit still or slow down or tire out. Bitch, he’s Idris Elba.
