Idris Elba the new James Bond?

LOS ANGELES — Actor Idris Elba (picture) has responded to the rumours that he may be the next James Bond.

Speculation has been high in recent weeks following the release of a hacked email sent in early January by Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal to Elizabeth Cantillon, former executive vice-president of production for Columbia Pictures, which distributes the Bond films, that read: “Idris should be the next Bond.” However, there has been online chatter for years suggesting that the British actor should be the next 007. The Luther star addressed the topic coyly on Twitter on Saturday in classic Elba form: “Isn’t 007 supposed to (be) handsome? Glad you think I’ve got a shot! Happy New Year people.”

This tweet also comes on the heels of radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s controversial comments that James Bond must be “white and Scottish”. Elba would be the first black Bond.

“James Bond is a total concept put together by Ian Fleming. He was white and Scottish. Period. That is who James Bond is, was,” Limbaugh said. “But now (they are) suggesting that the next James Bond should be Idris Elba, a black Briton, rather than a white from Scotland. But that’s not who James Bond is.”

He also acknowledged: “I know it’s racist to probably point this out.”

Elba has tackled the rumour of replacing Daniel Craig as the suave British spy before. He said in 2011 that he’s not interested in so-called black roles.

“I just don’t want to be the black James Bond,” Elba said. “Sean Connery wasn’t the Scottish James Bond and Daniel Craig wasn’t the blue-eyed James Bond, so if I played him, I don’t want to be called the black James Bond.”

The new Bond film, Spectre, which was hit hard by the Sony hack when its script was stolen, is set to open in cinemas in November next year.