Idris Elba to Make 'The Gunman,' Starring Sean Penn and Javier Bardem, Even More Macho

Noam Nitzani/WENN

What if even the testosterone levels supplied by Sean Penn and Javier Bardem aren't even high enough for your movie? Cast Idris Elba! That's what director Pierre Morel and producer Joel Silver obviously thought when deciding to cast the Golden Globe-winning Luther star in their upcoming film The Gunman, based on the novel Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette.
Elba will be playing a cloak-and-dagger agent named Dupont who tangles with Sean Penn, who also plays an agent for a clandestine operations outfit who is betrayed by his organization, forcing him on the run across Europe. It could be the kind of role for Elba that adds fuel to those 007 rumor fires that he may be positioned as the next James Bond.
A release date for The Gunman hasn't been set yet, but Joel Silver apparently thinks it has franchise potential. As for Elba, he can next be seen in July's Pacific Rim and November's Thor: The Dark World.