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"Idris Elba has said he is &amp;quot;flattered&amp;quot; that people are backing him as the next James Bond. The actor, who is about to reprise his role as DCI Luther in series three of the BBC show, revealed in an interview with The Independent that he finds the link a compliment.   He said: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s just a rumour. But what a compliment that my name has been attached to that role! Of course, it&amp;#039;s not my job \u00E2\u20AC\u201C it&amp;#039;s very much Daniel Craig&amp;#039;s \u00E2\u20AC\u201C but I&amp;#039;m flattered by the notion of it.  &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m also encouraged that audiences are being more colour-blind these days. If people are associating me with such a job, I think that&amp;#039;s great.&amp;quot;  Elba is also starring as Nelson Mandela in the biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. He said: &amp;quot;To call the prospect of playing Nelson Mandela intimidating would be to put it lightly. But it&amp;#039;s a massive honour to play this saint amongst men.  &amp;quot;I was honestly confused about why they came to me. I thought, &amp;#039;You can&amp;#039;t be serious! You chose me out of everyone you could have gone to?&amp;#039;  &amp;quot;Then I found out that Nelson Mandela was into The Wire. I thought, &amp;#039;It&amp;#039;s amazing \u00E2\u20AC\u201C he might have kicked back and watched the Wire box set!&amp;#039; &amp;quot;The role was definitely the biggest challenge of my life. I look and sound nothing like the man \u00E2\u20AC\u201C but hopefully I&amp;#039;ve pulled it off.&amp;quot; Luther returns on Tuesday, July 2 at 9pm on BBC One. Watch Idris Elba chat to Digital Spy about new Luther below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/james-bond-007/news/a493434/idris-elba-flattered-by-james-bond-link/>