Idris Elba announces major career pivot: 'Hope fans won’t be mad'

Idris Elba hopes his fans will forgive him for a big decision about his career: he will eventually stop acting and become a full-time director.

"I’m hoping that my fan base as an actor isn’t mad at me, but eventually, I want to transfer to being a director fully," Elba declared during a career Q&A session at the Red Sea Film Festival.

"I’ve been acting for a long time. I still love it, but I think directing allows me to flex slightly different muscles, and, you know, be a part of the set in a different way. I really enjoy it," the Luther star added.

Gushing over his recent experience of directing, Elba spoke about This Is How It Goes, which stars Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) alongside himself.

The film is based on Neil LaBute’s play of the same name and follows an interracial couple of a black man married to a white woman, as they face challenges after opening their home to a white man.

"The original is about a Black man married to a white woman, and a white man comes to move into their house, and it’s about what happens to their relationship," Elba said of the story. "I bought the rights to the film and transposed the story. So it’s a white man married to a Black woman, and a Black man comes to live in their house. It’s an incredible examination of marriage, trust, and race."

Elba added, "We start the movie at a wedding in Ghana, and I literally just finished last week. It was fantastic."