Idris Elba Rates Pierce Brosnan’s Bond in Resurfaced GoldenEye Reactions Video
Idris Elba rates Pierce Brosnan's performance as James Bond in a resurfaced video showing audience reactions to Goldeneye from the 1990s.
A newly resurfaced video from the 1990s showing audience reactions to Goldeneye features a pre-fame Idris Elba offering his two cents on Pierce Brosnan’s performance as James Bond in the film.
Brosnan made his debut as the iconic MI6 agent in 1995’s Goldeneye. He assumed the mantle from Timothy Dalton, who played Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) and and License to Kill (1989) before litigation over licensing rights delayed production on his third movie as 007, leading the actor to depart the franchise after his contract expired in 1993.
“He’s really good,” says Elba, talking about Brosnan’s performance in Goldeneye towards the end of the video posted to Twitter. “He’s got all the charm, he’s got all the looks, and he’s fit, he’s strong, blah, blah, blah. He’s alright.”
The irony of a young Elba talking about James Bond isn’t lost on anyone, given the decade-old rumors of the actor being the front-runner to assume the role after Daniel Craig finishes his run in the much-delayed No Time to Die. Elba and Craig even poked fun at the rumors at the Golden Globes Awards ceremony in January 2019, with Elba posting a photo that shows Craig giving him the stink eye while Elba looks over at him, adding the caption “Awks…”
On a more serious note, Elba has admitted that although he would absolutely be interested in playing Bond if asked, he’s disappointed by those who dismiss the idea because of his race. “You just get disheartened when you get people from a generational point of view going, ‘It can’t be.’ And it really turns out to be the color of my skin,” said Elba in 2019. “And then if I get it and it didn’t work, or it did work, would it be because of the color of my skin? That’s a difficult position to put myself into when I don’t need to.”
While Luke Evans and Tom Hiddleston have thrown their hat in the ring to play the next Bond, rumor has it No Time to Die sets the stage for Lashana Lynch’s character, the 00 agent Nomi, to lead the franchise going forward. “I am one Black woman — if it were another Black woman cast in the role, it would have been the same conversation, she would have got the same attacks, the same abuse,” said Lynch, commenting on the rumors last year. “I just have to remind myself that the conversation is happening and that I’m a part of something that will be very, very revolutionary.”
No Time to Die opens in U.S. theaters on Oct. 8. As for Elba, he will return to the screen later this year in Netflix’s western The Harder They Fall.
