ESSENTIAL INDUSTRY AND AWARD NEWS  JUNE 27, 2019 Idris Elba on Bond, Cats, and Everything Else Idris Elba is the coolest man in Hollywood. That seems clearer than ever after reading Vanity Fair’s latest cover story, in which K. Austin Collins travels to London for an intimate conversation with the versatile star—soon to be seen in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, James Gunn’s rebooted Suicide Squad, and, yes, December’s big-screen adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webbermusical Cats. Elba opens up to Collins about those pervasive James Bond rumors—to reiterate, Elba will notplay 007 in an upcoming film, and is still disappointed by the tenor of the conversation that has surrounded the endless whispers about his possible casting: “If I get it and it didn’t work, or it did work, would it be because of the color of my skin? That’s a difficult position to put myself into”—his breakout role on The Wire, and what attracted him to playing Macavity, a “mystery cat” who “breaks the law of gravity.” The myth, Elba explained, “is that cats have nine lives, and he”—Macavity—“has one left. So he’s desperate to be acknowledged, and he’s slightly unhinged, and he’s obviously met death a few times and gotten past it. The character has complexities, and I think that Tom Hooper...wanted someone who could pull off that stuff—meanwhile singing and dancing and meowing.” Elsewhere in HWD, Richard Lawson is somewhat underwhelmed by Spider-Man: Far From Home; Yohana Desta talks to scream queen Florence Pugh about Midsommar and her role in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Little Women; Tan France tells Laura Bradley about teaching Ali Wong how to do a perfect French tuck; and we handicap the best of what’s coming to HBO in July, for all your binge-planning needs.

Elba Rising From prestige TV to tentpole franchises to the Coachella DJ tent, the British actor is a poster boy for 21st-century fame: multidisciplinary, omnipresent, engaging. So, what does Idris Elba want to do next? READ MORE » Not a Home Run The third Spider-Man has a good time in his second outing, Spider-Man: Far From Home—but what is all that fun in service of? READ MORE » Even Flo A conversation with Florence Pugh, who’s on the cusp of a major breakthrough—thanks to Ari Aster’s stylized horror story Midsommar, plus roles in Marvel’s Black Widow and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. READ MORE » Tuck In “In my opinion, Dressing Funny is the most real version of me,” says style guru Tan France—who gives Ali Wong a French tuck in his web series’s next episode. READ MORE » Watchlist Notting Hill and the third season of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Divorce are coming to HBO in July, while Dawn of the Dead will hit the dust. READ MORE »