The Luther and Thor star is a staple of British culture, and now he’s stepped behind the camera to direct Yardie, based on the novel by Victor Headley.
The story follows Dee, a Jamaican who ends up in England caught up in drug trafficking. He must balance looking after his young family with his desire for revenge for the killing of his brother.
“I want to make a film about our culture. I want it to be real,” says Elba in this new Yardie featurette. His own Black-British identity, as well as his passion for music, shines through in the care and intimacy with which the characters are shaped and the story is told.
Aml Ameen (Sense8, The Maze Runner) leads the cast, and spoke with us at Sundance Film Festival earlier in the year about his relationship with Idris, and the dire state of representation in British film. Read the interview here.
Yardie arrives in cinemas on August 31st, distributed by StudioCanal.