Idris Elba might not be looking at a chance to be the next James Bond, but he has compelling roles lined up, such as a starring role in the documentary Mandela, My Dad, & Me, and more recently the role in Netflix’s new original film Beasts of No Nation.
As seen in the trailer, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival, Elba plays a warlord who guides and controls a child army in West Africa, and his performance is earning early Oscar buzz (he’s never received a nomination). The film’s limited release on Netflix and in select theaters on October 16 makes it eligible for the Academy Awards. Here is the official synopsis:
In a West African country, when civil war tears his family apart and militants kill his father, a young boy named Agu is forced to join a unit of mercenary fighters.
Beasts of No Nation is directed by the award-winning Cary Funuga (True Detective, season one). Funuga wrote the script for screen, which is based on a novel by Uzodinma Iweala.
