#Idris Elba Signs Deal with Apple for New Movies and TV Shows

Thanks to roles on both the big and small screen, Idris Elba continues to be one of the most popular actors working right now. So, it should excite many to learn that Elba and his Green Door Pictures production company have now signed a first-look deal with Apple, with the deal meaning that Elba and Green Door will produce both series and features for Apple’s streaming platform, Apple TV Plus.

Elba founded Green Door Pictures back in 2013, with the company since going on to make the comedy In The Long Run starring Jimmy Akingbola, Madeline Appiah, and Bill Bailey. The company also produced Elba’s Netflix comedy series Turn Up Charlie, which stars Elba as Charlie, a struggling DJ and eternal bachelor who is given a final chance at success when he reluctantly becomes a nanny to his famous best friend’s problem-child daughter. Both series have been praised by audiences.

Elba and Green Door are also behind the upcoming Concrete Cowboy, which follows a 15-year-old boy from Detroit who is sent to live with his estranged father in Philadelphia and learns about the local urban cowboys. Directed by Ricky Staub, the movie stars Idris Elba, Caleb McLaughlin, Jharrel Jerome, Lorraine Toussaint, Byron Bowers and Method Man. Concrete Cowboy will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2020.

Each of Elba and Green Doors projects clearly have a personal appeal to the actor, and no doubt this will continue with his collaboration with Apple. The Thor actor is just one in a growing line-up of high-profile stars to join forces with Apple, with other recent additions include Oprah Winfrey, Alfonso Cuaron, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Justin Lin, Kerry Ehrin, Jason Katims, Lee Eisenberg, Monica Beletsky, Sharon Horgan, Alena Smith and Simon Kinberg.

Elba has found much success as an actor, producer, director and musician, and has become well-known around the world thanks to starring roles in the likes of The Wire, Luther, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, and Netflix’s Beasts of No Nation. The actor has also been a part of several of Hollywood’s biggest franchises including Star Trek, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw in which Elba took on both The Rock and Jason Statham as the movie’s villain Brixton.

While we wait for his Apple TV projects, Elba has several movies in the pipeline, including James Gunn’s upcoming comic book reboot/sequel The Suicide Squad which finds Elba in a currently undisclosed role. Elba is also set to star in the revenge Western The Harder They Fall, and George Miller’s fantasy romance Three Thousand Years of Longing.

Elba has hit headlines recently due to a new report claiming that Elba’s chances of becoming the next James Bond have skyrocketed. The odds of Idris Elba taking on the 007 mantle have suddenly increased with the actor now having a 10/1 shot in the betting to play the next James Bond. Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said, “Idris Elba has been there or thereabout at the head of the Bond betting in the last few years and we’re not yet ruling him out for the role.” Elba has been in the running for the role for quite some time, though nothing official has ever taken shape. This comes to us from Variety.

Topics: Streaming