Yep, you read that right. Idris Elba, of Luther, Thor, and easy-on-the-eye fame, will play Quasimodo in a new movie adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The multi-talented star will also be responsible for directing the film and producing its music, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Last time we saw Idris, he was hobnobbing with George Clooney, Serena Williams and Oprah at the Royal Wedding on Saturday (May 19), so it’s hard to imagine him as a hideous recluse who rings the bells at Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral.
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Nope, still can’t see it. Not even if we squint.
Idris is going to need a lot of prosthetics to convince us he’s unsightly, let alone monstrous, as the character is described in Victor Hugo‘s classic novel. Perhaps it’ll be a motion capture role. Or Idris will be the latest star to undergo a make-under for a role, following in the footsteps of Matthew McConaughey in Gold (2016) and Charlize Theron in Monster (2003)?
It doesn’t sound like a faithful interpretation of the 1831 book, however. Dubbed a “sonic and musical experience,” it will be a modern retelling of Quasimodo’s infatuation with the gypsy Esmeralda.
Michael Mitnick, whose recent screenplays include The Current War starring Benedict Cumberbatch, will write the script, while Idris is in charge behind the cameras. This project is the latest impressive addition to Idris’s résumé as a filmmaker, after his directorial debut Yardie screened at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
It’s also his latest collaboration with Netflix, after upcoming comedy series Turn Up Charlie and the war film Beasts of No Nation, for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination.
Could this latest undertaking — not to mention his potential physical transformation — bag him the award for real? Watch this space.
What do you think of Idris’s latest role?
