Idris Elba Vetoed "Black James Bond" Joke In "Hobbs & Shaw"

BYCole Blake7.1K Views
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Idris Elba
Idris Elba said no to an on-the-nose "black James Bond" reference.

Fans may be aware that in the upcoming movie, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & ShawIdris Elba will refer to his character as “Black Superman,” but they may not know that the line was originally slated to be “Black James Bond.” During an interview with Variety, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, revealed the joke was axed by Elba who saw it as “too close to what everybody’s talking about.”

Idris Elba Vetoed "Black James Bond" Joke In "Hobbs & Shaw"
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Johnson went on to add that he was the mind behind the new Superman line, "Everyone's taking credit for it – Idris, our director, our producers, I’m sure, Jason [Statham]… [but] I came up with that. I said, 'What about the black Superman?' And everyone’s like, 'Great!' [But] now everyone takes credit." Elba also takes credit for the line saying it was improvised, “I was in one of these takes and I was really riffing, and then it came out and [director David Leitch] loved it, and so we kept it.” 

Elba has been long rumored to be attached to future Bond films but it was recently announced that Lashana Lynch would be starring as 007 in the next series. The move to cast Lynch was a shocking twist to the traditionally white, male-dominated role. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is set to hit theaters on August 2nd but for now, you can check out the final trailer below.


About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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