So with the news of
Tom Hiddleston officially in negotiations with Sony to become the next James
Bond, we are all but assured that seeing one of the most suave and ladies
man ever on the face of the planet will not be taking the role. While Tom is a
great actor, who I have zero problems with becoming the next bond, I think the
good folks over at Sony have officially missed their chance at making history
with the casting of Idris Elba.
If you read my first two entries in the series, (Word
Is Bond and
Word Is Bond II), you would know the many reasons as to why Idris would
literally be one of, if not the greatest Bonds the world has ever seen. Not only
does he have the acting chops and the physique to pull off the performance, he
literally exudes that type of charisma that you want from the guy who is playing
Bond. Women love him and adore him and dudes enjoy his "no taking shit from
anyone" attitude that has in a lot of his movies.
Now I understand that a lot of these guys whining about him being bond are
either racists, (though they'll never admit it other than saying he's too
"street"), or they're simply afraid of change. And I get the latter part because
it's a franchise that's near and dear to your heart and has been that way for
many years. But just like I tell the fan boys of the Star Wars series, as the
times change, so must the way we watch things. Just like when Star Wars was a
ground breaking movie about space and people didn't want to think about that
"nonsense", them leading the way with their casting was a great first step into
changing the way tent pole franchises are ran.
The casting of Idris would have literally been a huge step towards diversifying
Hollywood, showing them that African Americans can act when given the proper
chances, while maintaining that big box office return. Now speaking
realistically here, the movie wouldn't gross over a billion dollars for the
simple fact that racism does play a large part in practically everyone's life on
this planet. But it would be up there around the 700 million mark in my mind.
But none the less, if you want to diversify and still keep the quality up, they
could have looked no further than their own back yard. Which is probably the
best case scenario the Bond franchise could have asked for.
Once again we were turned down though and made to suffer through another
portrayal of white people acting in movies that weren't made for white people or
about white people. Exodus: Gods and Kings follows the same script when it comes
to white washing characters as Maria in West Side Story (1961), Cleopatra in
Cleopatra (1963), Othello in Othello (1965), Fox in Wanted (2008), Ben Campell
in 21 (2008), Goku – Dragonball: Evolution (2009), Dastan in Prince of Persia:
The Sands of Time (2010), Katara, Aang, Zuko and Soka in The Last Airbender
(2010), Maria Hill in The Avengers (2012), Bane in The Dark Knight Rises (2012),
Tony Mendes in Argo (2012), Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games (2012), Khan in
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Tonto in The Lone Ranger (2013) and most
recently the whole cast of Gods of Egypt (2016), just to name a few.
But as the news comes of Tom's casting means that we will have to wait at least
another ten years, (at minimum), to see the possibility of a black James Bond
due to a likely hood of 3 movies being pushed out around six years in total and
time off before and in between. Personally I think when that conversation arises
for a possible black Bond a lot of people will bring this moment up for the
simple fact that the big wigs over at
EON Productions let the opportunity to lead the way, slip right through
their finger tips.
Is it because of racism? More than likely it is. Is it because fans of the
franchise refuses to see change? More than likely it is. Is it because the
studio is afraid of making that change and losing a billion dollar franchise due
to said bases probably boycotting the film? Most likely it is. Whatever the
reason is, it's pretty damn stupid and they basically locked out a great actor
who would pretty much has about 90% approval rating for the part. But when all
is said and done I'm not going to be too annoyed over this because it's honestly
EON's loss. The fans have a pretty cool TV show in the form of
Luther than they can watch to satisfy that thirst to see Idris do some cool
action sequences.
Hopefully next time around they'll get it right.
In the meantime you should check Idris' speech about diversity in media and
films
here, it's pretty great.
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