"Hollywood keeps wasting Idris Elba’s talent. It’s a huge loss."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ss/?curator=MediaREDEF&utm_term=.af5943a8d68d

Just some pieces from the article by Alyssa Rosenberg:

"As the troubled, long-awaited adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” rolls out to dismal reviews this week, I’ve had to resist banging my head against the wall in frustration, and not because I’m a King aficionado grappling with shattering disappointment. Rather, “The Dark Tower” is the latest frustrating example of how nothing ever seems to go quite right in the career of Idris Elba — and what a loss that is for the rest of us."

"“The Wire” should have set Elba up to do anything: to be an older Black Panther in a Marvel adaptation; to revitalize the old-school movie romance in an era where “Fifty Shades of Grey” was bringing more adult sexuality back to the multiplex; to star in a range of historical biopics at a moment when directors such as Ava DuVernay were turning their history to black America’s past."

"He was wonderful as Nelson Mandela in “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” capturing both Mandela’s militancy and his hard-won patience. But that movie (which also featured a marvelous performance by Naomie Harris as Mandela’s wife, Winnie) came out the same year as Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave.” In an industry that often seems incapable of recognizing more than a few black artists at a time, “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” was largely shut out of year-end awards after a modest performance at the box office. Elba did similarly strong work in “Beasts of No Nation,” as the Commandant who manipulates and deploys child soldiers. That film, though, was distributed through Netflix, which bets on daring content but doesn’t yet seem to have figured out how to make its glut of original movies and television shows capture the cultural conversation."

"That’s an awful shame, and it speaks more to the entertainment industry’s failures of imagination than to anything lacking in Elba’s talent. And while I’m sure this frustrates Elba and his agents, this state of affairs is a loss for everyone. The space between what Idris Elba is capable of doing and what Hollywood has been willing to give him to do is a measurement of the industry’s creative failure and timidity. And for those of us who love to watch Elba work and hate to see him wasted, the weight of performances that could have been but never will be is crushing."

 

As I have said before Idris was the main reason why The Dark Tower was even capable of making it to number one with all those bad reviews, which proved he has star power. But like Alyssa said his talents are being wasted in America. He has of course racist Hollywood working against him and the fear being brought on by black women that don't approve of his IR relationships on screen even though Idris has had a diverse group of love interest, but as we know they are not about to accept a black man being successful in hollywood in interracial and diversity, only black women. Some have already hit him with the "he's erasing black women" excuse do disprove of black men in interracial relationships on screen. But the bright side they are still small and insignificant as of right now. But I fear he is going to be fed to them with his next movie The Mountain Between Us if the reviews are bad or people noticed that they took the romance out, especially fans of the book because the more negative reactions he get the more they will pounce and Nate Parker him. I really hope for Idris' sake that they didn't take the romance out of that movie and hopefully it is a good/great movie... the trailer was sub-par.

I believe if the reviews are good, the movie is good and of course him and Kate will draw awards attention and "oscar buzz", with his ability to attract people to the theatres as he has proven even with a bad movie he'll have a quick revival. The positive will outweigh the negative including those black women that will be heated of a IR romance between a black man and a white woman on screen.



But those re-shoots and a sub-par 1st trailer (even though it has been viewed over a million times on youtube.) scare me. I feel bad for such a fine actor and what Hollywood has done to him... disrespectful.

 

BTW it is good and a bit shocking to see some people in the media get his back:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonwill...tar-in-waiting?utm_term=.wizEpm37w#.ipbLod3GR

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dark-tower-idris-elba-is-good-movie-1026991

two of the three articles I posted (including the one in the first post) are written by white women.

 

I think the man is too handsome to be taken serious. His good looks kind of stand in his way.