Idris Elba explains ‘challenging’ aspect of his role in ‘The Suicide Squad’

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The Suicide Squad may be the fiercest, funniest flick of the summer and it’s hitting theaters and HBO MAX this weekend. 

Written and directed by James Gunn, the film is a follow-up to 2016’s Suicide Squad and is infinitely better than its predecessor. The action-packed thrill ride will have you holding your breath and laughing out loud throughout the film that is full of intense action sequences and still manages to have a lot of heart. 

It stars Idris Elba and Viola Davis and features Storm Reid as we’ve never seen her before and it’s armed with an arsenal of talented actors who choose violence at every turn. Prepare to be blown away by all of the action served up by Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Bloodsport (Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior),  Javelin (Flula Borg), Savant (Michael Rooker), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone), Blackguard (Pete Davidson), and more.

Whether or not you’re familiar with this band of DC Super-Villains or not, this film delivers in every way. Davis reprises her role as Amanda Waller, a special agent who runs the Task Force X with an iron fist –unafraid of the band of killer misfits she assembles to take out a major threat. 

Check out the synopsis: 

Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. 

Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them. 

theGrio caught up with Elba to find out how he tackled the role of Bloodsport and what it took to battle a giant starfish that threatened mankind. 

Elba stars as a stone-cold killer with a big ego who is also a father to a teenage girl (Reid) who’s at risk of following her father’s footsteps down a dangerous path.

“That is the sort of red carpet of characters and stories to tell because you get on one end an extreme and the other one an extreme and how that character sort of plays between, so for me that was very exciting to play,” says Elba.

“But then, of course with the filmmaking of films like this where there’s a lot of green screen and CGI and then you’ve got a director that actually wants you to go through stuff in real-time…It was masterpiece filmmaking.”

Still, Elba says the action sequences were pretty challenging to pull off. 

“There was lots of really physically demanding stuff but the end sequence with the starfish and gunning this thing down and then saving Daniella and all of that, that was pretty challenging,” he admits. “There was lots of stunt work that I had to do that was sequential to just that section of the film. So it was quite hard work for me.” 

The Suicide Squad debuts nationwide in theaters and IMAX on August 6 and will be available on HBO Max for 31 days from its theatrical release.

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