Did Idris Elba almost plunge to his death while shooting? (Photo Credit – Facebook)
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The Luther star found himself inches from a 90-foot drop when he slipped behind a waterfall in Ghana. One wrong move could have ended everything.
Recounting the terrifying moment on The Jonathan Ross Show, Idris Elba admitted, “I nearly died.” He explained that the scene involved child soldiers walking behind a massive waterfall.
Director Cary Fukunaga wanted the shot to be as real as possible, so the team filmed at an actual waterfall. The setup was already dangerous, and the stunt coordinator warned everyone about the slippery conditions and the deadly drop below.
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But Elba, in a moment of downtime, made a near-fatal mistake. “I put my foot on this rock just to hang out and chill while they were setting up,” he recalled (via The Guardian). “As I’m doing that, it’s slippery, obviously. I slip… I put my hand on this tree – it’s not a tree, it’s a branch. It snaps and I go literally about six feet before I go bang over and I got caught by the security guy.” One second later, and he could have been lost to the raging waters below.
For Elba, the experience only added to the intensity of the shoot. Beasts of No Nation was already a grueling film to make. The director even caught malaria and kept working through it. The entire production pushed the limits, but Elba still looked back on it as a “great experience.”
This wasn’t the only time Elba showed his tough side. The on-screen detective from Luther and the powerful warlord from Beasts of No Nation had a softer core. The contrast between his intense roles and his real-life emotions made him all the more compelling.
Beyond his near-death experience, Elba also juggled fatherhood with his hectic career. He became a father for the second time to his son, Winston, and opened up about balancing work and family. “He’s a good boy with me but a really bad boy with his mum because she spoils him, I don’t,” he said. “I am the tough guy… I am actually a doting father.”
But as much as he loved bringing his family along on set, it wasn’t always practical.
Elba’s career took him through intense roles, emotional challenges, and near-death moments. But his brush with disaster in Ghana? That could have changed everything. Thankfully, fate had other plans. And the world got to keep one of its most electrifying stars.
