Idris Elba has hit out at being offered parts in "rubbish films" after ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’.
The 41-year-old star played the iconic role of late former South African president Nelson Mandela in the biopic last year, but admits he was left "disappointed" with some of the offers he received afterwards because he didn’t want to portray characters "anyone can play".
He said: "You know, I’d just played this iconic human being, and the scripts I got afterward were sort of … disappointing … Look, I know that I work a lot, but I’d prefer to wait sometimes because I don’t want to just do rubbish films anymore or characters that anyone can play."
Idris – whose stock grew during his two years in drama series ‘The Wire’ from 2002 to 2004 – insists he rarely used to get recognised when he was out and about but that is slowly starting to change.
He added to Details magazine: "I’ve been that guy for a while, where people recognise me but they’re not sure why, I’d done a lot of popcorn films, but the reinvention came when I decided to do more of the character-driven stuff that won’t be seen by as many people.
"But it makes people start to realise, ‘Wait a second, this guy is that guy.’ "
Idris Elba slams ‘rubbish film’ offers
