Update!

James Bond Author Calls Idris Elba "Too Street" to Play 007 as Daniel Craig Says His Version Isn't "Sexist"

Anthony Horowitz would prefer to see someone more "suave"

By Francesca Bacardi Sep 01, 2015 10:45 PMTags
Idris ElbaFrazer Harrison/Getty Images

Idris Elba has responded in true class-act fashion to that "too street" nonsense:

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UPDATE: Anthony Horowitz has since issued an apology on Twitter. "I'm really sorry my comments about Idris Elba have caused offence [full statement attached]," he wrote. Click here to read his full statement.

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Idris Elba has been considered a frontrunner to take over the role of James Bond after Daniel Craig, but the author of the latest book in the Bond series, Anthony Horowitz, doesn't think Elba would be a good fit.

But rather than simply say he would prefer to see someone else in the role, Horowitz described Elba as "too street" to play "suave" Bond, which has caused many people on social media to go out and defend Elba's potential casting.

"Idris Elba is a terrific actor, but I can think of other black actors who would do it better," Horowitz said in an interview with The Daily Mail. "For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It's not a color issue. I think he is probably a bit too 'street' for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah."

Horowitz praised Craig's Bond character, calling him a "terrific Bond" and added that his favorite movie in the post-Sean Connery Bond era is Casino Royale. "Of the films after Connery, it is easily the best. Fantastic," he gushed. "A total return to the gritty seriousness of it."

Craig opens up to Esquire U.K. about the "lonely" character that is 007 in the magazine's October issue, and says he hopes that his version has left behind some of Bond's less attractive qualities.

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"He's very f--king lonely," Craig tells the magazine. "There's a great sadness. He's f--king these beautiful women but then they leave and it's… sad. And as a man gets older it's not a good look. It might be a nice fantasy—that's debatable—but the reality, after a couple of months…

"Hopefully," he adds, "my Bond is not as sexist and misogynistic as [earlier incarnations]. The world has changed. I am certainly not that person. But he is, and so what does that mean? It means you cast great actresses and make the parts as good as you can for the women in the movies."

Half of Bond's appeal, however, is his ability to woo, so how does Craig "update" Bond without making him seem "like a dinosaur"?

"There's a delicate balance to it," he says.

Do you think Idris Elba would make a good 007? Sound off in the comments below!

(Originally published Sep 1, 2015, at 9:37 a.m. PT)