Joe Kohen/Getty Images for Y-3Idris Elba probably didn't expect Pres. Barack Obama to talk about his sex appeal when he went to the White House last week for a screening of his awards season favorite drama Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
But that's exactly what the commander-in-chief did when recalling the first time the actor was at the White House for a state dinner.
"He told everyone in the screening room...'Idris Elba couldn't sit down because all the ladies, all the ladies were all over him. Give him a break today, ladies. Give him a break,'" Elba told me last night at the BAFTA LA Jaguar Britannia Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Elba added with a smile, "I was sitting in the room with a massive head."
Idris stars in the biopic of the South African leader opposite Naomie Harris as his wife Winnie Mandela.
Elba said "it was an honor" to have Obama ask to see the movie.
"Barack is really fond of Mr. Mandela so he was really thrilled to have us there to present our film and I felt very special about doing that," said the actor, whose makeup artist girlfriend Naiyana Garth is reportedly pregnant with their first baby.
Harris and two of Mandela's daughters, Zindzi and Zenani, also attended the screening as did the film's director Justin Chadwick.
"I'm still pinching myself," Chadwick also said at the BAFTA gala. "It still feels like a bit of a dream to be showing your film in the White House with the president."
Check out our chat with Idris in the video below.