What a boring, thankless role for a great actor like Idris Elba - that of Heimdall, a stoic and rather forgettable Asgard sentry in the Thor outings. This isn't as much a call for Elba to be fired because he's bad at the role, but because - from what he's said - he doesn't actually want to be involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Take these comments, for example, which the actor unleashed last year after he left the set of Mandela: Walk to Freedom, to reprise his role as Heimdall:
"I was like, This is torture, man. I dont want to do this. My agent said: You have to, its part of the deal.'" "Im actually falling down from a spaceship, so they had to put me in harness in this green-screen studio. And in between takes I was stuck there, fake hair stuck on to my head with glue, this f*cking helmet, while they reset. And Im thinking: 24 hours ago, I was Mandela. Then there I was, in this stupid harness, with this wig and this sword and these contact lenses. It ripped my heart out."
From those words, it appears that Elba would rather be doing something else anyway - and it's not very professional of him to deride Marvel, despite the fact that he agreed to sign on and they pay him. Why waste both Marvel's time and his own? Fire the guy!
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
