Idris Elba lands big deal lead in 'Pacific Rim'

By Sarah Sluis

Idris Elba was so good on "The Wire," which ended in 2004 but has since been discovered by at least as many people who watched the series to begin with. As Stringer Bell, he brought a business-minded sensibility to drug dealing, which more often was run on instinct. Although Elba has had a solid run of supporting roles, he's only recently started to come into the spotlight. This May, he had a memorable turn as the gatekeeper Heimdall in Thor.

Now he's been cast as the lead in the Guillermo Del Toro monster movie Pacific Rim. Given Del Toro's busy schedule and penchant for announcing projects that don't often pan out, I'll believe this when they start production. Or maybe not, given what happened with The Hobbit. The role is a big "get" for Elba, and there are some clues about what his role will be in this vaguely described monster movie.

Elba will likely play one of two pilots who don special Iron Man-like suits to combat monsters that have been wreaking havoc on Earth. They enter through a portal that sprung up some years before. The entire nation has retreated underground to escape the monsters. Warner Bros.-based Legendary Pictures is producing.

While that project gets underway, Elba will be seen strutting his star stuff in Ridley Scott's Prometheus. He's co-starring opposite Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, and Noomi Rapace. The space-set monster movie (I'm sensing a theme here) was first imagined as an Alien prequel, though now it's being billed as an original film, albeit with an Alien connection. That project is set for release in early summer 2012, where it will vie for the summer dollars. Of course, if you want to see Elba sooner, you can check out his role in next February's release Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, a sequel to the 2007 Nicolas Cage movie that I'm not placing any bets on.