Idris Elba on upcoming film Luther: ‘We go into production in September’

The much-awaited movie adaptation of the popular BBC series Luther is set to begin production in September, actor and executive producer Idris Elba revealed recently.

Speaking to Variety on Friday about the forthcoming project, Idris said, “We go into production, fingers crossed, in September. I’m so excited about it, it’s been a long time coming.”

“We’re very, very close to pulling the green light on the production,” Idris added.

Debuting in 2010, Luther, created by Neil Cross, has completed five seasons on the BBC. It features Idris as the titular detective. The actor has won two Golden Globes and a Royal Television Society best actor award for his portrayal on the show.

In the series, Idris plays John Luther, a detective chief inspector working for the Serious Crime Unit of the UK police. He is a dedicated police officer for whom the job comes first, but often at the cost of his personal life, and Luther is keenly affected by the darkness of the crimes he deals with.

The show was at the centre of controversy in April when BBC diversity manager Miranda Wayland suggested that the Luther character was not authentic enough as a Black protagonist.

Speaking at digital MIPTV, Miranda Wayland said, “When it first came out everybody loved the fact that Idris Elba was in there — a really strong, Black character lead. We all fell in love with him. Who didn’t, right? But after you got into about the second series you got kind of, like, okay, he doesn’t have any Black friends, he doesn’t eat any Caribbean food, this doesn’t feel authentic.”

The Luther film is currently set up as a 20th Century Fox Television, BBC Worldwide Productions and Chernin Entertainment production, with Idris, Peter Chernin, Julie Gardner, Katherine Pope and Jane Tranter on board as executive producers.

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Separately, Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner run production company Bad Wolf, which produces A Discovery of Witches and Industry.

Idris, who was last seen in James Gunn’s DC movie The Suicide Squad, also has Beast, The Harder They Fall, and Three Thousand Years of Longing in the pipeline.

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