JUST when fans thought they knew everything there was to know about actor Idris Elba, he goes and surprises them again.
South Africans will remember him, in more recent times, for channelling the spirit of Nelson Mandela in Justin Chadwick’s Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. However, his work in hit TV series like The Wire and Luther, as well as myriad Hollywood blockbusters ( American Gangster, Thor, Prometheus, Avengers: Age of Ultron), long cemented his clout and status as an actor.
That he also loves to DJ is a widely known fact. And his passion for music lured him to the Glastonbury Festival this year.
But here’s another interesting nugget of information on Elba – he loves fast rides and is an experienced driver who does all of his own stunts. Suffice to say, he is no stranger to speed and the thrills that come with pushing himself to the max.
That explains his debut on Discovery Channel with a four-part series, Idris Elba: No Limits.
He shares: “The show is about pushing the human being against their fears and I guess I’m a willing guinea pig in that space, but there were definitely moments where I just thought to myself, ‘why am I doing this?’ You know, there’s a sequence where I’m learning to fly a plane and do aerobatics. Now, flying a plane is one thing, but doing aerobatics is like the most extreme roller-coaster multiplied by 10. I definitely felt like this was a silly idea, but eventually realised that, no matter how scared you are of absolutely anything, once you face it, understand it, you can overcome it. That’s the one thing I learnt – there is nothing off-limits.”
It’s common knowledge that boys love their toys. On the male obsession with them, Elba enlightens: “What I think, at the seat of it, is that man has two arms and two legs and can only move at a certain speed. So there’s a fascination with being able to invent or create some sort of machinery that can take you higher, faster, further and I happen to be one of those people. I’m really interested in how quickly I can travel using another machine. And I think that obsession is that man wants to be bigger than he is. In my case, I’m just really curious about what I can push my body to do. I always felt that you could use more brain power than we apparently use, so I wanted to test that theory and this show was a really good sort of experiment for me.”
In the show, he does everything from aerobatics to rally driving and drag racing, while also setting his sights on Malcolm Campbell’s 1927 Flying Mile record. He also gets to understand the science, engineering and history behind it. And he isn’t afraid of going head-to-head with the professionals either.
At the same time, he also deals with his own phobias: heights and confined spaces.
Elba admits: “It was definitely a challenge. With this show, we tried to be authentic and you can definitely see that I’m uncomfortable with my fear of heights, especially in the plane sequences. And then the claustrophobia – the plane was really tiny. Eventually, I just dealt with it and conditioned myself to just look good for the cameras.”
As for the most complex thing that he tackled, he shares: “It was a toss-up between learning the aerobatics and the rally driving. Rally driving is a relatively safe sport, but you know, if you make a mistake you know there is such a thin line between going very fast and then crashing straight into a tree. Between that and aerodynamics, which although safe, you are still in the air. I’ve never learnt to fly a plane until this time, so I was a bit nervous doing that, if anything.”
As for the James Bond movie rumours, the actor says: “I just ignore them”. However, he is a fan of the Quantum of Solace movie.
He admits: “It was just a good story, a great performance from Daniel (Craig).”
On the acting front, though, he is pretty busy.
Elba reveals: “I’m the villain in Star Trek Beyond. We are just doing loads of prep for it. It’s going to be a long shoot.”
Oh, and he is definitely back as Luther.
Shedding light on how he approaches his various roles, he offers: “Every role is a challenge. As an actor, from an early age, I always wanted to reinvent myself every single time so Stringer Bell is different from Lutherand Mandela and Star Trek. The challenge is to try and lose oneself and just disappear within the role.”
But for now, viewers can watch him unleash his daredevil side and go full-throttle into the world of motorsports.
l Idris Elba: No Limits, Discovery Channel (DStv channel 121) on Fridays at 7.05pm.