Michael Jordan told Idris Elba no to playing him in a movie

Idris Elba has thus far been denied the chance to become the next James Bond. He also says he’s had no better luck in getting another legendary figure, Michael Jordan, to let him play him in a movie.

In a recent interview with Complex’s podcast “Sneaker Shopping, the tall, charismatic Elba said he once floated the idea to Jordan about playing him in a movie. This conversation took place while Elba had a chance to chat with Jordan on one of the NBA great’s “wicked getaways to the Bahamas.”

Elba was disappointed to hear the former Chicago Bulls star turn him down.

“I even said to him one time, ‘I want to play you,’” Elba said on the podcast. He and Jordan, by the way, are the same age.

“He was like, ‘Hm, I’m not ready yet.’ That’s what he said, ‘I’m not ready yet.’ … I was dead serious.”

Elba is right to think that Jordan would make a fascinating protagonist. He’s one of the greatest players in NBA history and one of the greatest American athletes ever. As shown in the 2020 Emmy Award-winning ESPA documentary, “The Last Chance,” Jordan also is more than just competitive, driven and demanding of people around him. He can be supremely ruthless, which in some ways has made him a lonely figure.

Now 49, Elba said he wasn’t that interested in depicting Jordan as a hot young basketball star. The British actor would play an older Jordan and focus on his post-NBA career as a highly successful entrepreneur.

“In my head, playing Jordan wouldn’t be about playing the basketball player; it was about the businessman,” Elba said. “He is a very astute businessman, really smart. And his work as a philanthropist is, like, unspoken, but people don’t understand the work. He cares; he does a lot of work. So that’s where I was hinting at. I wanna play Jordan — I’m doing that. He was like, ‘Ah, I’m not ready for that story yet.’”

Elba is no stranger to playing driven and ruthless businessmen. He became known to American audiences playing Stringer Bell in the HBO series, “The Wire.” Stringer was the cunning, self-made and strategically minded lieutenant to a Baltimore drug kingpin.

Recently, Elba has been at the Cannes Film Festival and elsewhere, promoting his latest film, whose theme has little in common an imagined Michael Jordan biopic. He stars with the acclaimed Tilda Swinton in “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” “an epic and gorgeously wrought fairy-tale romance,” as Indiewire said. He plays a Djinn, also known as a genie, who is eager for his freedom so he tells stories to a lonely academic who studies the art of storytelling. “They negotiate the terms in an Istanbul hotel room,” Indiewire said. “Is love a wish fulfilled?”

Several years ago, Elba said he was done thinking that he’d ever get the chance to play James Bond, given that Daniel Craig continued to occupy the role. Elba thought he’d be too old to take over the role once Craig decided to finally quit the 007 franchise.

Craig ended his run as Bond in “No Time To Die,” which was released in October. Elba also has expressed concern that some people might object to a Black man playing Bond.

Don’t count Elba out on the Bond front. If playing Jordan isn’t a possibility for Elba, Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have confirmed that his name still is “part of the conversation,” if and when they decide to make another Bond film.

“Well, we know Idris — I’m friends with him and he’s a magnificent actor,” Broccoli said in an interview in January.

Idris Elba has thus far been denied the chance to become the next James Bond. He also says he’s had no better luck in getting another legendary figure, Michael Jordan, to let him play him in a movie.

In a recent interview with Complex’s podcast “Sneaker Shopping, the tall, charismatic Elba said he once floated the idea to Jordan about playing him in a movie. This conversation took place while Elba had a chance to chat with Jordan on one of the NBA great’s “wicked getaways to the Bahamas.”

Elba was disappointed to hear the former Chicago Bulls star turn him down.

“I even said to him one time, ‘I want to play you,’” Elba said on the podcast. He and Jordan, by the way, are the same age.

“He was like, ‘Hm, I’m not ready yet.’ That’s what he said, ‘I’m not ready yet.’ … I was dead serious.”

Elba is right to think that Jordan would make a fascinating protagonist. He’s one of the greatest players in NBA history and one of the greatest American athletes ever. As shown in the 2020 Emmy Award-winning ESPA documentary, “The Last Chance,” Jordan also is more than just competitive, driven and demanding of people around him. He can be supremely ruthless, which in some ways has made him a lonely figure.

Now 49, Elba said he wasn’t that interested in depicting Jordan as a hot young basketball star. The British actor would play an older Jordan and focus on his post-NBA career as a highly successful entrepreneur.

“In my head, playing Jordan wouldn’t be about playing the basketball player; it was about the businessman,” Elba said. “He is a very astute businessman, really smart. And his work as a philanthropist is, like, unspoken, but people don’t understand the work. He cares; he does a lot of work. So that’s where I was hinting at. I wanna play Jordan — I’m doing that. He was like, ‘Ah, I’m not ready for that story yet.’”

Elba is no stranger to playing driven and ruthless businessmen. He became known to American audiences playing Stringer Bell in the HBO series, “The Wire.” Stringer was the cunning, self-made and strategically minded lieutenant to a Baltimore drug kingpin.

Recently, Elba has been at the Cannes Film Festival and elsewhere, promoting his latest film, whose theme has little in common an imagined Michael Jordan biopic. He stars with the acclaimed Tilda Swinton in “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” “an epic and gorgeously wrought fairy-tale romance,” as Indiewire said. He plays a Djinn, also known as a genie, who is eager for his freedom so he tells stories to a lonely academic who studies the art of storytelling. “They negotiate the terms in an Istanbul hotel room,” Indiewire said. “Is love a wish fulfilled?”

Several years ago, Elba said he was done thinking that he’d ever get the chance to play James Bond, given that Daniel Craig continued to occupy the role. Elba thought he’d be too old to take over the role once Craig decided to finally quit the 007 franchise.

Craig ended his run as Bond in “No Time To Die,” which was released in October. Elba also has expressed concern that some people might object to a Black man playing Bond.

Don’t count Elba out on the Bond front. If playing Jordan isn’t a possibility for Elba, Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have confirmed that his name still is “part of the conversation,” if and when they decide to make another Bond film.

“Well, we know Idris — I’m friends with him and he’s a magnificent actor,” Broccoli said in an interview in January.