‘Sonic 3’: Idris Elba Says 10-Year-Old Son Asks Him to Do Knuckles Voice (Exclusive)

Idris Elba is returning as Sonic's friend and former rival Knuckles in “Sonic 3”!

“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with Idris in London about the new movie, which finds Knuckles and Sonic reuniting to battle Shadow, a mysterious new enemy voiced by Keanu Reeves.

Idris spoke about how Knuckles has evolved, saying, “He’s become part of the family. He’s part of the group. [Sonic's] got a love-hate with Knuckles. They're like brothers, and he's part of the team. I guess I brought a little more warmth to my guy, a little more understanding of him and Knuckles and Tails and the family."

When asked if it was fun to do animation, Elba said, "It is definitely a different skill set. Your voice is so incredible, you can do all sorts of things and if you’re not worried about how you look, you can get your voice to do crazy sh*t. So, I loved the experience of that.”

Idris said he sometimes busts out the Knuckles voice at home! He shared, "Sometimes my son who's 10, he'll say, ‘Do the Knuckles voice,’ or, ‘Leave me a message in Knuckles' voice.’”

"You can switch into it?" Mona asked.

"If I get paid enough!" Idris joked. He added, "I do need a warm-up, and also I need a refresher — how does he sound again?"

Because Idris did all his work in the recording booth, he didn't get to interact with his co-stars.

Idris said, "Even though it's a film about family and stuff, we usually just record on our own." He added, "Keanu and I have voiced something together differently, separately from this, so it's nice to work with him again. But we haven't really hung out hung out."

He also dished on new music after the release of his EP “No Long Talk.” He commented, “I love making music. I play house, I play that kind of vibe.”

As for working on “Masters of the Universe,” Elba couldn’t say much, but noted, “It’s sort of living in my childhood a little bit.”