Luther actor Idris Elba has revealed a surprising project that is on his wish list: doing a musical.
The 43-year-old admitted to music magazine NME that it is something he would like to explore.
He said: “I don’t know if I’ve got the chops to sing, but I’d like to explore it.”
Idris Elba in Luther (Steffan Hill/BBC)
London-born Idris recently earned his first Bafta television award nomination for his performance in the title role of the hit BBC series Luther.
Earlier this year he made a speech in Parliament about diversity in television and addressed the importance of the creative industries to the British economy as he called for “imagination” and “diversity of thought”.
The actor, also known for his starring role in The Wire, said he thinks his speech “definitely fuelled ongoing debate”.
(Jordan Strauss/Invision)
He told NME: “Specifically in my industry, the powers that be have to all talk to each other and have a standard move forward. I think I achieved that at least, to get the people in my industry to speak to each other.”
Idris has been the subject of much speculation regarding whether or not he will be cast as Daniel Craig’s replacement in James Bond.
His next project is the big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, which will see him star alongside Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey.
The latest edition of NME magazine
If the first instalment of the movie is successful, he could play the role of Roland Deschain for many years as there are eight books in the series.
“I like franchises,” he explained. “Franchises are long-term work. I like to take a character and do as much work [with them] as I can – Luther, the Marvel character … there are actors who prefer to jump from one to the next but I like the idea of keeping a character going.”
The full interview appears in this week’s issue of NME magazine
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