Big Screen Scoop: Scoop Street

MAN ON THE STREET IDRIS ELBA WEIGHS IN ON IDRIS ELBA STREET ISSUE

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So, Idris Elba being the next James Bond. It’s become this whole thing now, a thing that got kicked up another gear when James Bond author Anthony Horowitz recently said in an interview that the British actor was a bit ‘too street’ to play Bond, and lacked the sufficient quality of ‘suave’ to play a friendless, lecherous alcoholic creep who makes dad jokes after committing brutal acts of violence. Horowitz didn’t mean it that way (for the record his preference was Adrian Lester), but it was an ill-advised comment he was quick to apologise for.

Elba for his part is a bit weary of the speculation about being the next Bond, saying months ago that it was a rumour that’s started to eat itself, but he still had a response to Horowitz’s recent misstep, posting a picture of the Daily Mail article Horowitz made the comments in on his Instagram, with the caption: “Always keep smiling!! It takes no energy and never hurts! Learned that from the Street!! #septemberstillloveyou.” Exactly the kind of amiable, light-hearted response from a guy whose way too suave for James Bond.

SIENNA MILLER’S SCENES IN BLACK MASS SLEEP WITH THE FISHES

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“heh heh…um…this lady’s too tan and blonde…get her the hell out of my movie”

 

 

For years I mostly knew Sienna Miller as one of many ladies that British tabloids would be very snide about (while, as it turned out, they were listening in on her phone calls) more so than an actress, but last year she must have used some of that sweet News of the World settlement money to get herself a new agent, and landed herself parts in Oscar contenders Foxcatcher and American Sniper. Admittedly they were thin main-character-wife parts, but hey it pays the bills and it’s better than gossip rags snickering at your cellulite, right?

Unfortunately for Miller, her hot streak of playing the wife in prestige pictures has been dealt a blow with the news that her scenes have been cut entirely from the upcoming Johnny Depp gangster flick Black Mass. Miller was going to portray Catherine Greig, girlfriend of Boston mobster Whitey Bulger, even working extensively on a Boston accent with a voice coach, but her scenes have all been removed now, a decision that director Scott Cooper says came down to ‘narrative choices’, clarifying that he felt looking over the film in the editing room that the parts of the film where Bulger is on the run (the time in his life when he met Greig) were less dramatic. Which is unfortunate for Miller, but hey, at least she still gets paid. If that hypothetical new agent is doing their job right, they should be able to help her bounce back from this setback. A part in a new Terrence Malick film maybe?