adminIdris Elba will go from playing an obsessive detective on the BBC crimes series Luther to portraying a gangster rapper in the upcoming revenge drama The Trap also starring Benicio Del Toro.
The 42-year-old British actor has replaced 47-year-old Jamie Foxx in the role of Rico in the film.
The Harmony Korine-directed movie will be set against the backdrop of the Miami music scene, according to an article on Tuesday by The Hollywood Reporter.
It was announced last year that 48-year-old Del Toro would play Rico’s best friend Slim who is released from prison after 14 years after taking the fall for a robbery they both committed years earlier.
Focus Features was in final talks for US rights to the drama that also will feature 28-year-old Twilight star Robert Pattinson, James Franco, 36, and 74-year-old Al Pacino.
Korine, 42, previously wrote and directed the 2012 indie hit Spring Breakers that featured Franco along with Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson and his wife Rachel Korine.
The crime-comedy grossed $31 million worldwide with an estimated budget of $5 million.
The Trap also has Lionsgate handling international distribution and it likely will offer the project to foreign buyers at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
The Wire star Elba started filming a new season of the BBC One crime drama series Luther earlier this month in which he portrays a near-genius murder detective.
It was announced in January that Luther was being adapted for the big screen and will be remade in the U.S.
Elba can next be seen on the big screen reprising his role as Heimdall in Avengers: Age Of Ultron due out on May 1.
The in demand star can be seen later this year portraying an African warlord in Beasts Of No Nation about child soldiers in Africa.
The film based on the best-selling novel by Uzodinma Iweala will be distributed by online streaming service Netflix and screened in art-house cinemas. — Dailymirror.
Online Reporter