Idris Elba in Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim

I’m an Idris Elba fan! I’ve been watching his BBC psychological crime drama, Luther on netflix. It was great seeing him in Thor and Takers on the big screen, too. But Idris the mecha pilot? Who would have thunk it!?

38 minutes ago this was posted to his Twitter page:

Congrats @idriselba on the new role!!!!” Thank you Babe.

Why? Well, Deadline announced the actor signed the dotted line to star in Pacific Rim as Sensi, the lead character in the Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros sci-fi action film from the one and only Guillermo del Toro.

Del Toro has already been behind Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth. I recently saw his 1993 film, Cronos, for the first time, and let me tell you, it was probably the most original vampire movie I’ve ever seen (although the original Let the Right One In still holds a place of high regard for me as well).

So what is Pacific Rim all about? Buckle your seat belt, because it sounds pretty incredible! Are you ready to see a live action film with the feel of a mecha anime? Well, get ready! This is the biggest news I’ve heard all summer. Scoot over Godzilla, because in Pacific Rim an enormous monster will attack the earth, and in response and army of two-man teams will be developed, trained to pilot giant mechanical devices, known as Jaegers. Holy Big O! Holy Gundam! Jeepers Evangelion! Haha! We saw hints of mecha devices in Matrix: Revolutions and Avatar, but nothing on the big scale anime fans are used to.

Production stars this November and I can’t wait to hear more.

What else has Elba got going on? Ghost Rider 2 for starters! There’s also some buzz about him and Tarantino.