Idris Elba’s latest movie, “Beast,” almost starred his daughter, Isan — but when she didn’t get the role in a rare case of nepotism not working out well for an aspiring actor, she wasn’t happy with her famous father.
“She auditioned and it came down to chemistry in the end,” Elba said in an Aug. 11 interview on iHeart Radio’s morning show “The Breakfast Club,” noting that she would have played his character’s daughter — except for the fact that ironically, their onscreen father-daughter dynamic didn’t read quite right. “She’s great, but the relationship in the film and the relationship between my daughter was, the chemistry wasn’t right for the film, weirdly enough,” Elba said.
Producer Will Packer, who was also on the interview, ultimately broke the news to her that she didn’t get the part. “I called and talked to her, ’cause I’ve known her for a very long time,” Packer said. “I’m like ‘Uncle Will.’ Packer noted that Elba didn’t cut his daughter any slack during the audition process. “He auditioned with her, he was very tough on her,” Packer recalled. “[Elba] said [to his daughter], ‘Listen, at the end of the day we’re going to make the best decision for the movie. I trust you, Will, trust the director,’ and she was very good, very close.”
After finding out she didn’t get the part, she didn’t speak to her father “for about three weeks,” Elba noted, adding that his daughter eventually came around. “She was very gracious about it and we got through that and I’m really proud of her to go through that, not get the role, but still come to the premiere,” he added.
“Beast,” which comes out on Aug. 19, stars Elba as a recent widow who takes a trip to South Africa with his daughters to revisit the place where he met his wife — only to wind up being stalked by a bloodthirsty lion. Elba, known for “The Suicide Squad” and “The Wire,” among others, has two children, Isan and Winston. He married his wife, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, in 2019.