Idris Elba inks first-look deal with Apple TV+
David Farnor | On 15, Jul 2020
Idris Elba has inked a first-look deal with Apple TV+.
The actor, who is also a producer, director and musician, is best known for his role as Luther in the BBC crime drama and Stringer in HBO’s The Wire, as well as his big screen roles in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Beasts of No Nation and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But he has also been busy away from the camera, founding his own company Green Door in 2013.
In the past seven years, the company has produced 5×5 for BBC Three and The Idris Takeover, as well as the Young Vic theatre production Tree, plus Sky series In the Long Run and Netflix show Turn Up Charlie.
Now, Green Door has reportedly signed a first-look deal with Apple. The agreement will see Elba and his shingle produce series and films for the tech giant’s streaming platform, Apple TV+.
The deal was put together by Jay Hunt, Apple’s creative director for Europe.
It sees Elba join an increasingly star-studded line-up of talent aboard the Apple TV+ ship, with previous first-look or overall deals including everyone from Alfonso Cuaron and Sharon Horgan to Simon Kinberg, Oprah Winfrey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Justin Lin, Kerry Ehrin, Jason Katims and Lee Eisenberg. Apple TV+ has also inked a deal with the Maurice Sendak Foundation to develop projects based on Sendak’s books.