Baby-faced Idris Elba spotted in unearthed Bond GoldenEye video

A 26-year-old Bond promo video has been unearthed, featuring a baby-faced star that remains a fan favourite to take over the secret agent role.

The campaign to install Idris Elba as the next James Bond will never run out of steam.

Even though other names have come into the conversation since Elba’s was first mooted soon after Daniel Craig made his debut in Casino Royale – everyone from Tom Hardy and Richard Madden to Tom Holland and Riz Ahmed – the desire to see Elba slip into that tuxedo with a shaken martini in his hand remains strong.

And that campaign may have just gotten an extra boost with an unearthed 26-year-old video of a baby-faced Elba reacting to Pierce Brosnan’s first entry in the Bond canon, GoldenEye.

Elba, then 23, appears at the end of a 30-second promo for the release of GoldenEye in 1995, in one of those vox pop videos in which everyday cinemagoers are asked what they thought of something they just saw.

His friend speaks first and declared it was “better than the last one”.

And then Elba gives his opinion on Brosnan’s performance, “He’s really good, he’s got all the charm, he’s got all the looks, you know what I mean. And he’s fit, he’s strong and blah blah blah. He’s all right, he’s all right.”

Audience reactions to GoldenEye. Spot anyone interesting toward the end? pic.twitter.com/Fi2y1E4tFI

— DoubleOKevin (@KevBot_007) September 18, 2021

A pretty enthusiastic endorsement from a future superstar who definitely knows a thing or two about screen presence.

The video was tweeted out by Bond fan account “DoubleOKevin”.

Elba’s big break came in 2002 in The Wire, as the scene-stealer Russell “Stringer” Bell, but he had already landed smaller roles in the UK.

By the time of GoldenEye’s release in November 1995, Elba had appeared on two episodes of The Bill, and one each of Bramwell and Absolutely Fabulous.

Of course, he has since gone on to become one of the world’s most recognisable actors thanks to high-profile gigs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Heimdall, as the titular detective in Luther and in films including Molly’s Game, The Suicide Squad and Beasts Of No Nation.

He’s also a working DJ, created the Netflix series Turn Up Charlie and has an Audible podcast with his wife Sabrina Dhowre called Coupledom.

He will next be seen in George Miller’s Three Thousand Years Of Longing, filmed in Sydney with Tilda Swinton.

You, sir, are wearing that tuxedo very well. Picture: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

While Elba remains a favourite among many fans to take over from Craig as the next Bond, what’s working against him is his age. Elba is only four years younger than Craig, and the latter has spent the past 15 years as the British superspy.

However, Roger Moore was 45 when he first played Bond. Elba is currently 49 years old.

Craig’s fifth and final instalment as Bond, No Time To Die, will premiere in the UK this weekend after an almost two-year delay due to pandemic disruptions in the cinema business.

No Time To Die is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (who worked with Elba on Beast Of No Nation) and is the first American filmmaker behind the camera on the 59-year-old franchise.

It also stars Rami Malek, Christoph Waltz, Lashana Lynch, Lea Seydoux, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Wishaw and Rory Kinnear.

Due to state lockdowns, No Time To Die won’t be released in Australia until November 11.

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