Idris Elba Reacts to Possibly Playing Bond Villain (Exclusive)

Idris Elba and Camila Mendes chatted with “Extra” about bringing “Masters of the Universe” to the big screen. 

Idris said of taking on the role of Duncan/Man-At-Arms, "I feel part of it has to do with my nostalgia of playing with these toys and being part of something so like incredible.”

He went on, “Travis [Knight] is a really big draw for me. I love Travis as a director. I just can't wait to work with him. And then his perspective on how to pull this to life was right up my street. He didn't want to make it something else. He wanted to be very, very true to the original IP, to the to the culture of cartoons and animations and sound and the music and all of that. And I was like, 'Okay.' 

"And, you know, obviously he cast me, which I'm a different, you know, hue to Duncan, but it wasn't about that for him. It was about finding that character within the Duncan character that he could bring to life. And I was just really impressed by that."

Camila plays Duncan’s daughter Teela, and said, “I think it's like a layered dynamic. I was very nervous to meet Idris just because, you know, you just never know and I obviously knew that how important it was to get this story line and this dynamic right, but Idris was just so effortlessly cool and grounded and down to earth and immediately made me feel at ease, comfortable, and I was like, 'Okay, like, we're going to get along.' And we did.”

She also spoke about her Teela transformation, saying, “Teela had to train to get to where she's at and so I was training to be able to play Teela. And in that process, I found sort of my own inner strength and was able to see myself in a way that I didn't see myself. So, it was really cool.”

Idris talked about putting the armor on for the first time, “They gave us a bunch of toys in our trailers, you know, all the toys. And then I had my two I had two different versions. They gave me like the OG Man-At-Arms and then they gave me the newer one and I was playing with them in my costume and I was like, 'Yo, this is great.' It was so surreal. I was comparing mustaches with this one and this one. I mean, it was definitely like a dream come true, quite frankly.”

Camila talked about her Teela costume, sharing, “We were creating this costume together for months, like, trying to find the right balance. I think I remember Travis saying that the functionality of her costume was really important because we want her to be taken seriously as a warrior, someone who's believable as a true fighter, so making sure that her costume reflected that was really important… but also being able to play around with different versions of her costume.”

Smiling, she said, “I loved her sword with the little red gem in it, which is my favorite detail… The sword training was my favorite part… I love doing those drills. That was the coolest part of the experience. And we worked really hard on getting that choreography down.”

And they have a message for moviegoers. Camila said, “You should stay in your seats until the entire movie is over.” Idris added, “Because there may or may not be more than one coda.”

Plus, we had to ask Idris about James Bond: Would he ever join the franchise as a villain? 

He said, “Yeah, 100 percent. Bond is such an iconic franchise. Why not? A Bond villain, though… You know, like you could do the whole stroking cats.”

Camila is down too: “Give me a call.”