To think that saying Idris Elba isn't suitable to play Bond because he's 'too street'...

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... is actually a racist comment, which - however 'jokingly' said - is absolutely not an appropriate thing to say in an office environment?

I'm on week two of a new position and between this kind of thing and other dodgy goings-on am debating whether to hand my notice in.

WIBU to mention my discomfort to line manager (who heard whole thing, laughed along etc.) or alternatively to just cut and run? Am I being a bit sensitive?

For anyone supporting idris Elba or any black male actor to have the Bond role is basically asking for Naomi Harris to lose her job. I would rather she stayed. I hope they are not writing her off or about to just to give room for black male actor. I can't see the two being allowed to co-exist in bond movies.

For anyone supporting idris Elba or any black male actor to have the Bond role is basically asking for Naomi Harris to lose her job

Why can't they both be in it

Quencher - you're right, a young Denzel Washington would have been fabulous (ah, sigh, in Much Ado about Nothing).

Pretty sure you can have Scottish/Swiss parentage and be black.

Anyway, Idris is a skilled and versatile actor, but more importantly, he has massive, massive charisma. I'm not a Bond fan myself, but I imagine IE would do a good job of it.

Looking forward to seeing how he plays Roland though (another character originally written as white).

Put it like this: "too street" is what a white person would say if they think Idris Elba is too black to play Bond.

I'll go back and rtft now.

I must be thick but what does too street mean? Idris would be fantastic as Bond

Street is a geezer.

relating to the outlook, values, or lifestyle of those young people who are perceived as composing a fashionable urban subculture.
"London street style"

Just googled

James Bond is a brand. He's public school educated with strong views about the right tailor to go to, the right shirts to wear and how to behave in polite society. He is also white. Michael Caine broke new ground when he played Harry Palmer in the IPCRESS file, just for being a spy with a working class accent - but that was true to Len Deighton's book.

How is it racist to query Idris Elba on the grounds he is not white? It would be a major shift in the optics of the brand, surely open to discussion. I'm sure we'd get used to a black Bond in time, just as we did when Judi Dench played M, but you can't expect people not to consider his race when discussing his suitability to play such a well-established role. And, in the mind of the audience, Elba is type-cast to some extent as a gangster in The Wire, which is another disadvantage to overcome.

Thank you for the explanation Dame and Fekko
So its actually nothing to do with racism?

I haven't rtft but I do think it's racist. However, dear Idris is getting on a bit now, isn't he?
I'd like to see Tinie Tempah as the first black Bond. Apparently he's taking up acting and we know he loves fast cars thanks to Top Gear. He's also young enough to do a few films and he suits the preppy posh boy look. I can definitely see it working out.

@ParsnipLeekAndLemonSoup it's because of the role Naomi Harris plays. She replaced Judy Dench. (Not as M but as female character). There is a quartor for how many black people can have major roles before it's turned into a black movie. It's one of the main issues that inhibits people casting black actors. (Of course its racist) The amount of black people in leading roles maters. It's also, one of the reason it's hard to have black actors with families in main stream tv and movies as leading roles.
With the current bond there is sexual tension between the two with excellent banter. If a black male gets it she will probably not feature at all.

Elba is type-cast to some extent as a gangster in The Wire, which is another disadvantage to overcome. Is this by people who have only ever seen him in this? I didn't think he was gangsterish in Thor or Prometheus to name a few of over twenty movies and tv shows he has done.

You can be posh and black and if you are a good actor you can speak with received pronunciation.

it is a difficult issue in film. Sometimes we see totally unexpected and ludicrous castings.

Is the black movie a real thing? Why does it matter? I can't say it would bother me if several of the leads were black. Snakes on a plane (oh a classic!) weren't 2 of the 4 main characters black?

It's not racist. Idris nearly always plays a tough character. Chiwetel Ejiofor or Colin Salmon would be great in the role, or the chap who was recently in that film Get Out. His name escapes me but I saw him in something else and he oozed charisma.

I don't think it's racist to say Idris Elba is too street for Bond. I'd say the same about Jack O'Connell out of Skins, or Plan B, the rapper. Some people can pull it off, some can't.

Interesting isn't it. Ed Skrein quit Hellboy to allow an Asian character to play the character as intended- widely applauded. This is a silly comment and I can't believe you actually wrote it. Do you know how many roles that could have gone to Asian actors that goes to white actors. This was in along line of taking the piss this year with casting of Asian characters as white. Now this pisses me off.

But with James Bond- another fictional character - posters are saying the original ethnicity should be ignored. How many leading roles in Hollywood do you know that has an asian person? Not many. How many roles can white peoples have? Almost all if they wanted too. It would still sell if it was good. Some times even rubbish ones still do better than other excellent movies with lots of BAME. (Of course someone will come along and say a good movie is just a good movie. if it was colour would not matter in the casting because the writing, acting and producing is great.)

And anyone complaining about Bond and how they should keep to the original, they should ask why ghost in the shell was given to scarlet johansson. (Because of slight ambiguity in the character even though people knew she was Japanese). A Japanese person could have easily played the role.

@Fekko
Is the black movie a real thing?
Last year when the ho ha with the oscars was happening, all I kept on hearing about was black actors in films and ignored black movies (and there was not many). It was a thing and it's probably fading (I hope so) now which is good thing.

Smitff

Put it like this: "too street" is what a white person would say if they think Idris Elba is too black to play Bond.

Put it like this, and speaking as the person who is actually in my head and knows 100% what I mean rather than you telling me what I mean: when I say Elba is "too street" to play a cold, privileged, upper class, public school educated, ex naval commander from Swiss-Scottish ancestors I mean he is too relaxed, too laddish, too rough, too geezer, too unconvincing to play Bond.

My son was even more offended when they cast Daniel Dae Kim in the Hellboy reboot. Apparently the character is Japanese, but DDK is Korean. He said he thinks it's hypocritical of people to complain he's not being played by an Asian actor, which he agrees it should be, but then they're silent when they cast a Korean actor as a Japanese character. It's like they just see "Asian" and assume anyone from round that area will do.

I get his point really. But hey-ho, I'll still be there lining up with him to see it - he loves Hellboy.

Kotto, 75, added that he finds it “ridiculous” when people say all roles should be open to black actors. “If I say I want to play JFK, I should be laughed out of the room,” he said. This where he got it wrong. People keep on saying Bond is not real life born and bread human being.

Black men should stop trying to play roles created by whites. These roles are not written for black men. We have pens [to create] roles that no one else has established.” I kind agree with this but I would not hold anyone back who wants to go for the role if they can nail it.
Ava duVernay made me watch her clip a couple of times this week when she stated, she was glad and happy for those who paved the way for her and made her privileged enough to be in the position that she is in. Privileged enough to decide not to break the glass ceiling (which is violent in its nature) but to build her own house. I applauded her for what she is said because in her own lane she is breaking grounds and I love her of it. What she said is in line and not far off with what Kotto stated here as long as you understand the context.

I will however say that Hollywood is very lazy in coming up with ideas that portray ethnic minorities in a different light to the normal stereotype on what sells.
That is why I think the above comment from kotto and Ava matters.

Ugh. I really need to stop posting on race-related threads. Always a mistake.

As an aside, in the 60s, after Sean Connery left, they wanted Sidney Poitier to replace him. I would have LOVED that. He is still to this day one of my favourite actors of all time and he would've been in his prime in the late 60s. Still, at least he made In the Heat of the Night instead, which is a classic.

I could see Sidney Poitier (or more accurately Sir Sidney Poitier) as Bond more easily than IE. He even served as a diplomat.

Oh, is Daniel Dae Kim going to do it? I love him! There has been a fair amount of mixing over the years of Japanese, Koreans and Chinese, so some Japanese do look Korean or Chinese. I don't think it's a huge deal, except in the TV show Heroes they cast a Korean guy as Japanese but he had to speak Japanese and couldn't. His Japanese sounded awful.

I don't think the ethnicity of Bond changes the character. It would be weird to cast a black woman as Elizabeth II, but they cast a black woman as Hermione in the Harry Potter play and it was fine.

I read there has been a lot of controversy over the casting of the new live action Aladdin.

Love Idris but not sure he's right for Bond in the same way that I adore Tom Hardy but don't think he's right either.