Idris Elba on Turning 50 and What’s Next for His Career

Idris Elba has a lot to celebrate — his new survival thriller “Beast” opens on Friday, and he has a milestone birthday next month.

“Extra’s” Terri Seymour caught up with the star, asking him about his upcoming 50th birthday in September.

“Yeah, that’s me. On my way,” he said, adding he doesn’t have plans for a huge party.

“I'm going to chill this year,” Idris said. “I've done parties. My wife, I know my wife threw a massive surprise birthday party for me, it was massive. So this year, I just feel like I might just relax, have some friends and family, my kids, just chill.”

Elba insisted, “I've done a lot of partying. I'm really just thankful, you know, that if I, you know, turned 50, I’m… just thankful for it, you know what I mean?”

Terri asked, “Now that you’re turning 50, Idris, what’s next?”

The actor said, “I just want to do more of the same. I’m sort of really having fun being able to spread my wings, if you like… I've done some directing, but I'd like to do more. I love making music and, you know, I'm playing a few more instruments now and I think I'm just going to just make albums for the fun of doing it. I love to write songs and listen.”

He went on, “Just live. You know, just try and live, and I think the last three years for all of us, just [made us] realize how precious life is.”

Being the next James Bond apparently is not on his bucket list. Idris reportedly walked away from years of talks with movies bosses to take over the 007 role, but is busier than ever with several movies and business projects.

First up is “Beast,” the new thriller about a father hell-bent on saving his two teenage daughters from a massive rogue lion stalking them on a South African reserve.

Idris said, “It really is a bit of an old-school thriller… What would you do to save your children? You would do anything, right?”

He added, “We really designed it to be seen in the theater… We want people to… be immersed in the whole thing. It's terrifying what happens, but at the same time, you know, there's a real sort of sense of triumph at the end, because of what the family has gone through with their lives and what they've gone through in this, you know, incredibly scary scenario.”

He told Terri about shooting the scenes in which he battles the lion, saying, “It was this poor guy and his name is Owen, but he's great. He's an incredible sort of animal impersonator and stunt man, and he wore this, like, quite silly-looking gray suit with a big lion's head… I mean, he was anything but scary but, you know, he was there to provide an eyeline. And actually, in the fight sequences with me, you know, there's a real veracity to how the human body will, you know, sort of react to a lion striking it… And so we really paid a lot of attention to that, but it was, you know, it was it was hard work — there's lots of physicality, lots of attention to detail.”

Idris is also busy working on the “Coupledom” podcast and the S’able Labs skin care line with his wife Sabrina.

He said, “We talked about partnerships in our ‘Coupledom’ podcasts, which isn't just about marriages or relationships, it's about just partners — you know, your family, your mom, your dad. We had some really incredible guests on, but then that sort of leaked us into what we're doing with skincare.”

Idris added, “We've been sort of developing skincare for a long time, but it's based on being unisex, it's based on you and your partner sharing it, natural ingredients and starch… I know there's a massive trend around, you know, celebrities doing things like this, but actually for us, it's really just part of an extension of who we are as people.”