SDCC 2011: Ghost Rider: Spirit of VengeanceAn Interview with Idris Elba
by Wilson Morales
July 26, 2011
Over the weekend, Blackfilm.com attended the San Diego Comic Con and spoke with many celebrities with upcoming projects. Among the many Black actors there to promote either their latest film or TV series, Idris Elba came out to support not one, but three films he has coming up, ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,’ Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus,’ and Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim,’ in which Elba plays the lead role.
Elba spoke to Blackfilm.com about his work in ‘Ghost Rider 2.’
How do you like being at San Diego Comic Con again?
Idris Elba: I love coming to Comic Con. I love seeing the costumes. I love seeing the atmosphere.
How would you describe your character in ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance?’
Idris Elba: He is described as a sort of warrior/monk, but he’s a warrior/monk that rides a motorcycle, drinks wine and wears long leather jackets. He’s cool. He’s a cool character, but he’s also a little bit more comedic than my audience is used to seeing me and he’s also sort of like…action. There’s a lot of action in this film for me. So that’s good, good fun.
How many stunts were you able to do on your own?
Idris Elba: Honestly, I did most of the stunts that you’ll see aside from one or two in the film. So, I did the jumps. I did the riding stuff and the gun shots and all of that stuff.
How good are you on a motorcycle?
Idris Elba: I’m all right. I’m better than I was in the beginning. When they took me around I fell off once.
Have you bought one in real life?
Idris Elba: I’m going to, believe it or not. I’m actually going to go buy a bike. I’m not sure what bike. It might be a Harley. I like a big bike to sit back. But in this film I had an old Ducati bike that was sort of vintage.
How was working with Nic Cage?
Idris Elba: Really good, a really good guy. He’s a smart actor and very passionate and very involved. Even though he’s playing a character from a comic book and his Ghost Rider character is CGI, he puts his whole effort into it, his whole life into it.
You also are promoting two other films, ‘Prometheus’ and ‘Pacific Rim’. How is it promoting three projects at once?
Idris Elba: To be fair, ‘Pacific Rim’ is the only other film that I came with here. ‘Prometheus’ was yesterday and I wasn’t a part of that, but I’m just proud of it. It’s been a phenomenal year for me. I’ve worked really hard and hopefully next year I’ll have some really big films for my audience to see.
It’s a big role for you working in ‘Pacific Rim’ with Guillermo del Toro.
Idris Elba: Yeah, it is. It’s a central character in that film, but essentially the film is about robots versus humans. I mean, monsters versus humans.
With so many projects you are definitely doing, was Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’ ever a consideration?
Idris Elba: It was, absolutely, yeah. I sat down with Quentin and had a great time. The projects I’m doing now will be great.
