Idris Elba Takes a Lie Detector Test

Boom.

Oh, wow.

Interesting.

Is it okay if I wear my sunglasses in this or is that gonna?

[crew laughing]

Really tough questions?

I'm gonna tell the truth.

[Interviewer] Is your name Idris Elba?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Is this a photo of you?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Are you the sexiest man alive?

Yes.

[Interviewer] So, you're saying

that George Clooney is not?

Definitely, he is not.

[Interviewer] Now, let's really get into it.

First category, your life.

Now, you grew up in Hackney, correct?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Would you say you have a Hackney accent?

Uh, no.

I have a East London accent.

[Interviewer] Do you think you can do

a convincing American accent?

Sometimes, yes.

[Interviewer] Can you do one right now?

Uh, yes.

You want me to?

[Interviewer] Well, that's why I asked.

Okay, so, you know, right now,

I'm gonna try and do this accent

and it's kind of like a West Coast,

you know, a little bit soft

and it's not like East Coast, you know?

[Interviewer] Not too shabby.

Okay.

That was terrible.

[Interviewer] Is there a phrase you use

to get into your American accent?

Uh, no, but usually what I do is count down from 10 to one

or do the vowels, you know, and that typically,

you know, if I can hear if I count,

what words don't sound quite right.

[Interviewer] Do you think your British accent

makes you sexier?

No.

[Interviewer] Is it true you helped your uncle

by being a wedding DJ?

It is true, yes.

[Interviewer] And you continue to DJ now,

under the moniker, Big Chris?

No, no.

I DJ under Idris Elba.

He's funny.

[Interviewer] Is it true that you've said before

you would never get married?

Yes.

Again, never get married again.

[Interviewer] But you're married now?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Did you send invites to Harry and Meghan?

Yes.

[Interviewer] You had a brief stint as a kickboxer?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Is it true that you trained

for 19 hours a day?

No.

[Interviewer] Is it true that you knocked a guy out

in one punch?

No.

Not true.

[Interviewer] Do you think you could kick my ass?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Yeah, you're probably right.

You're a father, right?

Are you a strict parent?

Mm.

On some things, I'm strict, not on all things.

I'm pretty lenient.

[Interviewer] Do you operate under the mentality

that it's okay if it's done in the house?

Uh, yeah, to some degree.

I want, in my house, for my kids to be

as free as they could ever be,

but I also want them to be free when they're,

you know, outside of the house.

And be themselves.

[Interviewer] Do your kids think you're cool?

Yeah.

[Interviewer] You stated on The Graham Norton Show

that you have a foot fetish.

Is this true?

This is true.

[Interviewer] Well, I'm really glad

I didn't wear flip flops today.

You're good, brah.

Trust me.

[crew laughing]

[Interviewer] How does this image make you feel?

Uh, you know, it's a picture

of some nice legs and some feet.

It's alright, no feelings.

[Interviewer] And, this one?

Uh, it's a little gross.

It's not doing me anything, no favors.

[Interviewer] Would you consider yourself stylish?

Yeah.

Hella stylish.

[Interviewer] How long does it take

for you to get ready in the morning?

Yeah, I move quick in the mornings, yeah.

So, 20, 30 minutes,

at the most.

[Interviewer] How many times a day

would you say you look in the mirror?

Six.

[crew laughing]

[Interviewer] Really?

At the most.

[Interviewer] Do you consider yourself to be vein?

A little bit, yeah.

[Interviewer] Let's talk about your career.

People remember you for portraying Stringer Bell

on The Wire.

Did you do a lot of research for that role?

Uh, yes, I did.

Although, I did the research mainly after I got the role.

[Interviewer] Did you talk to any former drug dealers?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Where the [beep] is Wallace?

Wakanda.

[Interviewer] Then you played Heimdall

in the Thor franchise?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Are you a fan of Marvel Comics?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Who's your favorite Avenger?

I don't have one.

[Interviewer] So, it's not Thor?

No.

He's alright.

[Interviewer] Is there anyone that you would avenge?

Oh, yeah.

My kids, for sure.

Yeah.

[Interviewer] You played an African warlord

in Beasts of No Nation?

Uh, yes.

[Interviewer] Would you say that was

the most evil character you've ever played?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Did you ever have nightmares

because of that role?

Yes, definitely.

[Interviewer] You worked with Aaron Sorkin.

Yes.

[Interviewer] This man here.

For Molly's Game.

What was the most difficult line to recite?

There was quite a few.

But, it was the scene in the back offices of the court

and I'm doing this three page scene

and there's a list of, you know,

suspects that been sort of brought up

and I had to list them, as in, one, two and three,

and I couldn't get that for the longest time.

It was a struggle.

[Interviewer] You character, John Luther,

from the show, Luther, deals with a lot of ghosts

from his past.

Are you worried this interview

will bring any skeletons from your closet?

Um, no.

I'm boring.

[Interviewer] Do the police make you nervous?

Yeah.

[Interviewer] You've acted alongside

some of Hollywood's most talented women,

were you ever intimidated?

No.

[Interviewer] Not even opposite Jessica Chastain?

Um, no I wasn't intimidated by her

but, like, she's one of the best actors

I've ever worked with, she's so, like, precise

and she works really hard so I was sort of

more enamored by her.

[Interviewer] How about Kate Winslet?

She did make me nervous, actually, I tell a lie.

But only sometimes.

[Interviewer] What about her made you nervous?

I think it's because she's so prepared and I'm not,

so I tend to be a little bit more loosey goosey

about how I approach a scene and she is like, you know,

she knows what time of day it is in the scene and I don't.

[Interviewer] You said you were nervous

filming your sex scene with Kate Winslet,

is that still true?

Yeah.

[Interviewer] Do sex scenes still make you nervous?

Yeah.

[Interviewer] Do you think Kate Winslet

would be a good person to have in a crisis?

You know, considering her track record.

Kate Winslet is super levelheaded,

like, she's definitely someone you want on your team

if you are, you know, in panic mode

because she doesn't panic

and she knows everything about everything, so.

[Interviewer] You were in the American remake

of The Office.

Yes.

[Interviewer] So, let's settle the debate,

once and for all.

This guy, or this guy.

Ricky.

[Interviewer] Ricky?

Definitely.

[Interviewer] Why?

He's just the originator of cringe humor.

Without a doubt.

[Interviewer] Who do you think would be a worse boss

between Ricky and Steve?

Yeah, Steve Carell.

[Interviewer] Sounds accurate.

Yeah, it does.

[Interviewer] Are you a fan of Afrobeats?

Yeah.

[Interviewer] Who do you think has better jams,

Wizkid or Davido?

Come on, man, you can't ask me that.

I think Wizkid kills it with the jams

but Davido kills it with the love songs.

[Interviewer] Is it true that you DJ'd the Royal wedding?

It is true.

[Interviewer] Were there any songs

on their do not play list?

No.

[Interviewer] It's a wedding, so,

did you get drunk?

Yeah.

[Interviewer] Are you offended

that you haven't been knighted yet?

No.

[Interviewer] Do you think electronic music

is as good now as it was when you were coming up?

Yeah, definitely.

It's in a good state.

[Interviewer] Is there an artist out there

who you really want to collaborate with, but haven't yet?

There's a few, but Justin Martin,

I'd love to collaborate with him.

MK and I haven't done it yet, so we're working on it.

Oh, actually, we have, tell a lie.

This is a lite detector

and I'm telling lies all over the place.

[Interviewer] Is that true?

That's a lie.

Wow.

[Interviewer] Should British actors be able to

play historically American roles?

Yes.

[Interviewer] What about American actors?

Should they be able to play historically British roles?

Yes.

[Interviewer] You have 2.65 million followers on Twitter.

Do you measure your self worth

based on you social media following?

No.

[Interviewer] Do you wish you had more followers?

Um, yes.

[Interviewer] Well, would you be sad

if you lost a few hundred followers?

No.

[Interviewer] What about a few hundred thousand?

No.

[Interviewer] Have you ever been starstruck?

Yes.

[Interviewer] By who?

Meryl Streep.

[Interviewer] Brexit.

Good or bad?

Bad.

[Interviewer] Would you say that state of US politics

right now is scarier than British politics?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Alright, now let's talk about philosophy.

Do you have a life motto?

Uh, yeah.

[Interviewer] What is it?

Born alone, die alone.

[Interviewer] That's dark.

Yep.

[Interviewer] What do you trust more,

your head or your gut?

My gut.

[Interviewer] Do you easily buy into conspiracy theories?

Probably.

[Interviewer] Do you think the Rothschilds

are a family of lizard people?

No.

[Interviewer] Are you sure?

Yeah.

Pretty sure.

[Interviewer] Do you think the US has been hiding contact

with extraterrestrial life?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Do you think the Earth is flat?

No.

[Interviewer] Would you buy a spot on SpaceX?

Nah.

[Interviewer] Do you think the apocalypse

will happen in our lifetime?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Are you concerned

about our devices spying on us?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Do you think Facebook

does more evil than good?

No.

[Interviewer] If Mark Zuckerberg

was listening to this conversation right now,

what would you say to him?

I would say that what he has done with technology,

to bring people together, is sacred and special.

And I would say, therefore, their personal information

should be treated the same way.

But, I think at the heart of what he's done and achieved,

it's a good thing.

[Interviewer] Well said.

Can you still appreciate art

when the creator has been implicated in wrongdoing?

Yes.

[Interviewer] Do you believe in fate?

Yes.

[Interviewer] If you died tomorrow,

would you be happy with the way you lived your life?

Yes, 100%.

[Interviewer] At any point in this interview,

did you lie and we didn't catch you?

No.

[Interviewer] John, is that true?

True.

[Interviewer] All right,

that concludes this lie detector test.

That was tough, wow.

That was so tough.