First Look At Idris Elba In Guillermo del Toro‘s Pacific Rim

Idris Elba is finally about to break out. He’s been steadily building up his profile over the last few years and now he’s getting ready to lead Warner Bros. big budget, sci-fi epic blockbuster Pacific Rim, from director Guillermo del Toro.

Co-starring Charlie Hunnam (Sons Of Anarchy), Rinko Kikuchi (The Brothers Bloom), Charlie Day (Horrible Bosses) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy), the film is highly anticipated, and for good reason.

Del Toro is a genius behind the camera and I think all of us are waiting to see what he can do with a film of this scale. Furthermore, the cast is very exciting and I can’t wait to see Elba lead a film like this.

Ever since his days on The Wire as Stringer Bell I’ve been waiting for Idris Elba to break out. Now, with roles in high profile films like Thor and Prometheus, he’s almost there. Pacific Rim should give him that last little bump he needs and I can’t wait to see the man finally get some much deserved recognition, at least stateside (he’s more popular in the UK).

In speaking to Total Film, del Toro had the following to say about Pacific Rim.

When we’re talking about the physicality of the fight, we ended up building several blocks of Hong Kong. And literally demolished them. We built a building and then we took down the buildings.

We built command centres of the robots that were the size of the house. We started them on hydraulic rigs that shoot and elevated them and moved them round so you could really get a sense of the physical nature driving a robot like this.

For those unfamiliar with the movie, you can check out the plot summary below.

When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes-a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)-who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Pacific Rim hits theaters on July 12, 2013.