Idris Elba Recalls the Awkward Way He Learned His Character's Fate on The Wire: 'It Was Tough Love'

“If you walk in, you can’t let them know you’re not American,” the British star said, recalling what he was told when auditioning for the HBO series.

One of the most shocking television deaths of all time remains Russell “Stringer” Bell Wire — and it was also surprising for Idris Elba.

Elba, 51, appeared on Thursday’s episode of Spotify What now? with Trevor Noah podcast and reflected on the defining moment of his career when he starred in the acclaimed HBO drama Wire.

While the British actor recalled the whirlwind experience of transitioning from struggling actor to playing corporate criminal Stringer Bell, he admitted it was a complete surprise when his character was killed off in season three.

“I didn’t know my character was going to die until we got the episode,” Elba told Noah, 40.

He jokingly added: “It was tough love.”

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After explaining that “it was scary” and “a tough pill to swallow” to suddenly lose the lead role in the hit series and work less frequently for a while, the former Luther star described how he learned of Stringer’s fate.

Elba recalled, “Usually you get your scripts, you know, like two, three in a row, they write them. And I think when I got it, I also got the seventh episode. I said, ‘Oh, um, episode seven. I have the seventh episode. Where is eight? Can I have eight? What’s wrong?'”

“‘Uh, you’re not, no, you’re not at eight,'” he continued, re-enacting his interaction with the showrunners at the time. “‘What do you mean? I’m not at eight?’ ‘You should read it, you should read it.’ That’s how I found out.”

The Beast the star also revealed when he first got his role Wire — which included lying about his accent for almost the entire audition process.

Idris Elba as Stringer Bell in ‘The Wire’.

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The Emmy-nominated actor recalled, “There’s a casting director, I talk about it all the time, Alexa Fogel. She’d talk me into things and say, ‘Hey, listen. This one Wire the matter came up. That’s called Wire. It’s the pilot. They will shoot it in January. But if you walk in, you can’t let them know you’re not American because they won’t – I mean, it’s Baltimore. It is very specific. They don’t want foreigners. I mean, please.'”

Elba explained that this was no problem, as he had picked up an American accent living in New Jersey and Brooklyn and working as a bouncer/DJ – but was stunned during the fourth and final audition when the producers asked him, “Where are you from?”

He said he was sweating and thought to himself, “They told you, ‘Don’t say anything.’ He continued, “I’m like, ‘Your accent sucks.’ They condemned you.’ I looked at him and said, ‘I’m from East London. The room just exploded.'”

Ultimately, the Marvel actor revealed that showrunners wanted to know because they were betting on whether or not he was lying about being American and ended up offering him the role of Stringer on the spot, despite auditioning for Avon.

Idris Elba as Stringer Bell in ‘The Wire’.

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Wire marked Elba’s first major role in an American series. During the show’s five seasons from 2002 to 2008, he appeared in seasons 1 to 3 before his character was killed off by Omar (Michael K. Williams) and Mouzone (Michael Potts).

Elba and Wire Creator David Simon has already talked about the actor/musician’s departure from the series in interviews.

In the interview for 2019 The Hollywood ReporterSimon, 64, shared that Elba was vocal about how disappointed he was to leave the show and said, “Boo,” on set as he was being wrapped in a body bag.

“We all just fell out laughing,” Simon said. “It was one of the most charming things I’ve ever seen.”

The showrunner explained that his death was mostly “to make a political point”, given how Stringer tried to “reform the war on drugs” when “it cannot be reformed”.

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Wire can be fully transferred to Max.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education