Idris Elba considers acting to be a sort of therapy.
The British actor, who is set to feature in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, told The Guardian that he enjoys playing a variety of characters, but especially those that struggle with “emotional battles, a lot of suppression, a lot of dualities.”
He continued: “The roles I take tend to have that complexity, and I enjoy diving into them, because, yeah, this is therapy time. A lot of times I read something in a script and I think, ‘I’m secretly dealing with that.’”
The Wire star wonders whether he’s cheating as an actor since he doesn’t completely detach himself from his roles.
“If you’re only dealing with certain facets of your own personality, is that really acting?” he told the Guardian Weekend magazine.
“People sometimes tell me, ‘You were good in this or that role’, and I think, ‘You don’t realise. I was dealing with that shit for real’.”
In other parts of the discussion, he addressed accusations that he takes on too many gigs in his acting and music careers.
“People have criticised me for doing a lot of things. For doing this, that and the other, for doing too much. But creativity’s a real balancer for me[creativity is]…the best suspension system I have for keeping me even,” he stated.
Idris identified with Stringer Bell’s difficulties in ‘The Wire,’ and confessed that he agreed to play eponymous officer John Luther because the allure of ‘Luther’ was to play a character in a problematic midlife period when he was also feeling disillusioned with his own profession.
“I definitely used work to exorcise demons, there’s no doubt about it,” he said.
The actor, who played DCI John Luther in the BBC crime drama series from 2010 to 2019, said that he would finally be in front of the camera for a feature-length spin-off.
When asked about his plans for 2021, Idris told The All-New Capital Weekender, “Apart from making more music, people that love my film and stuff, listen, I’m going to be making Luther: The Movie.
“I’m super excited and I hope the fans are sort of excited for that. It’s been a long time coming for a movie, so I’m excited about that.”
