Actor Idris Elba made his name playing no nonsense London detective John Luther. But the much loved star has revealed plans to relocate to Africa within the next decade. The 52-year-old has expressed his desire to help build the African film industry by fully immersing himself in it. Elba, star of hit TV shows such as The Wire and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, spoke to the BBC while attending the Africa Cinema Summit in Accra, Ghana.
Following in the steps of writer/director Tyler Perry who built his own film studio in Atlanta, Elba plans to build his own in Africa. The Golden Globe winning actor said that his ambitions for developing African film-making would require him to relocate. “It’s going to happen. I think [I’ll move] in the next five, 10 years, God willing. I’m here to bolster the film industry – that is a 10-year process – I won’t be able to do that from overseas. I need to be in-country, on the continent.” He added: “I’m going to live in Accra, I’m going to live in [Sierra Leone capital] Freetown, I’m going to live in Zanzibar. I’m going to try and go where they’re telling stories – that’s really important.”
Elba, who was born in London, has a father from Sierra Leone and a mother from Ghana. He told the BBC: “If you watch any film or anything that has got to do with Africa, all you’re going to see is trauma, how we were slaves, how we were colonised, how it’s just war and when you come to Africa, you will realise that it’s not true."
“So, it’s really important that we own those stories of our tradition, of our culture, of our languages, of the differences between one language and another. The world doesn’t know that.” The father of two is also part of a consortium developing an “eco city” on Sherbro Island in Sierra Leone.