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" When I look at my body of work, I've played a lot of characters who are morally conflicted - 'I'm right, no I'm wrong, I don't know what to do!' I want to play more characters who don't care as much, and who aren't as measured. They are what they are, no apologies. "

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" Television has shied away from being too dark, because so much has happened to us recently here in the West, and people are sort of wanting to see more uplifting sorts of things. "

Idris Elba

People

See

" In 'Pacific Rim' I had to have a haircut I wouldn't usually rock. However, the moustache I had in the film - that might have to come out again. It was a good moustache. Good times. "

" I've always had ambition, and the acting was successful and put my name on the map, but it was never the plan to stop there. "

" I still sing on bits and pieces. Singing's something that I love to do, but it's not something that I pursue as a career. "

" I'm a little sheepish about it. Whenever I meet fans and they're like, 'Oh, you're so sexy,' I just don't get that. There's no way one man can be universally sexy. "

" In some countries, no one knows who Idris Elba is. "

" Now there are certain things you have to prepare - like dialect and special skills. But in the moment, interaction between two characters on the page doesn't need - for me, I don't need to prepare that. "

Idris Elba

Special

Page

" I did a rendition of 'Billie Jean' which is on my Soundcloud. I put it on Twitter, and it got about 3000 hits that day. "

" I think there's a tendency for actors like myself, and I don't mean to generalize myself, but I've played 'men's men,' if you will, characters that are simmering rage and calculated. There's a trend not to play anything that is opposed to that. "

" Every single film I've done, it's about the character. "

" There's the argument that you can relate to someone who's completely unrelatable. In the way that a director shows you his imagination on a film, then I get to show you my imagination in a big dumb character. "

" Because I was big, I didn't have to listen to anyone doubting me. I was just considered good at football or whatever, there were no questions about it. "

Idris Elba

Good

Questions

" It's weird because my parents don't really understand my business. I get fan mail all day long, but if a piece happens to get to their house, they're like, 'Oh, my God, you've got a fan! You have to write them back. You have to do it!' "

" Yeah, I know, any time you hear an actor say, 'I do music', you cringe. But I want to be gradual with my music. I want to earn my stripes. "

" I was cast in 'Thor' and I'm cast as a Nordic god. If you know anything about the Nords, they don't look like me but there you go. I think that's a sign of the times for the future. I think we will see multi-level casting. I think we will see that, and I think that's good. "

Idris Elba

Future

Think

" It was deeply important for me to understand where Mandela came from. Because we know where he was going, and that's a famous story, but who was he? Where did he come from? What was his upbringing? "

Idris Elba

Important

Famous

" I get criticized for taking roles in films like 'Ghost Rider 2', but if you look at my resume, dude, I've mixed it up as much as I can. "

Idris Elba

You

Look

" I've never had to explain 'Prometheus' to people, ever. Most people get it. "

" If you go to Africa and you're white, you're probably not going to get that much work either. But the fact is that there is a longer history of black integration in the U.S. I don't have any resentment about this: I did the maths, calculated it against my ambition and decided to leave England. "

Idris Elba

Black

History

" Whether it's music or acting, that creativity all comes from the same source. "

" The role of my agent has just been to get me in the room. If I can get in the room - say the character is just a charming man who lives next door - then I'll walk in there and be as charming as I can and they will think to themselves, 'I don't see why we can't cast him.' "

" I've always been DJing; it's just I'm making more of a push for it, making it more public. "

Idris Elba

Just

Public

" I'm an ambitious person. I never consider myself in competition with anyone, and I'm not saying that from an arrogant standpoint, it's just that my journey started so, so long ago, and I'm still on it and I won't stand still. "

" The less I talk about being black, the better. "

" Twenty or 30 years from now, I'm going to be on a beach in Jamaica. "

" I was always a real athletic kid. Then when I got older, I just figured it was part of life to keep training. "

" The English are good at bad guys - the James Bond-style villain, cunning, slow-burning. The Americans are much more obvious about it. "

Idris Elba

Villain

Good

" I was really ambitious, so I was innovative. I was one of the first DJs to do live calls, 'cause I found this phone device that would pick up other people's voices. "

Idris Elba

Phone

People

" White actors still get way more money in Hollywood. It's been that way for a very long time. I hope it'll change, but it's a matter of forcing that change. "

" I'm rebelling against being handed a career, like, 'You're the next this; you're the next that.' I'm not the next anything, I'm the first me. I can't be myself, I can't just be Idris Elba. But that's just the nature of the business. "

Idris Elba

Business

You