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British actor Idris Elba has been tipped to play silver screen superspy James Bond in the near future. In the meantime, he’s been playing the role of DJ between film shoots in Cape Town, where he launched his latest House track and music video.
Last Friday, the 43-year-old star launched his new single called Spectacle – described by Time magazine as a “serious House jam” – and its accompanying music video at the trendy Gin Bar on Wale Street.
Apparently, Elba recorded the song at his home in London and shot the video in Cape Town last month.
About 40 revellers attended the bash, sipping bespoke gin cocktails with names like Intensity and Ambition as the video was screened by a projector overhead. Witnesses described the evening as low-key, with no A-list celebrities in sight.
Local actor Siyabulela Ramba (23) attended the launch party as a friend’s date and got to meet Elba.
“Idris picked out everyone who worked with him on the music video’s set, greeting them and chatting,” Ramba told City Press. “His movie characters are always so heavy, but in real life Idris is a teddy bear, funny and sweet.”
Ramba’s entertainment career includes playing the part of an orphaned boy named Willie opposite Kiefer Sutherland in 24: Redemption, a 2008 film based on the popular series about counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer. Ramba hopes to launch a television show later this year.
Following the worldwide release of Spectacle on June 24, entertainment portal mixmag.net noted that Elba was an old hand behind the decks. Elba’s past DJ monikers include DJ Dris, 7 Wallace and Big Driis.
The website said Spectacle was “a tribal stomper that features Elba’s instantly recognisable snarl backed with fruity riffs and stabby percussion”.
The video is a monochrome pastiche of men with bulging pectoral muscles wearing animal masks, as well as ballerinas and fire dancers provided by Fire Tribe in Cape Town.
Elba was in South Africa to headline The Dark Tower, a TV adaptation of US author Stephen King’s science fiction-fantasy series.
Hollywood veteran Matthew McConaughey co-stars in the production. Filming started at the Cape Town Film Studios in April.
Fans spotted Elba on a film set near Cavendish Square shopping centre in Claremont last week. The movie has since wrapped and Elba left the country yesterday.
It is understood that he stayed at the five-star The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, which has also housed Britain’s Prince Harry.
Elba was also seen quaffing drinks in a leather booth at the Cubana Havana Lounge in Green Point.
