Idris Elba on Jonathan Ross: ‘I almost died in waterfall while filming Beasts of No Nation'

Near death experience: Idris Elba has a hairy moment while shooting Beasts of No Nation
Jennifer Ruby27 November 2015
The Weekender

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Idris Elba has admitted that he ‘nearly died’ while shooting new film Beasts of No Nation.

The British star, 43, who has just been nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for the role, nearly slipped down a waterfall while filming in Ghana.

Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show, he said: “I nearly died.

“I was doing this scene - we decided to do this waterfall scene where all these child soldiers were walking behind this massive waterfall.

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"Cary Fukunaga, the director, decided to shoot it for real. We went to this waterfall and in this scene my character is standing there watching all the child soldiers go past.

“Now in the setup of that, the stunt co-ordinator says, 'Listen everyone, this is a waterfall, that's a 90, 100 foot drop down there and the ground is very slippery, just be careful!”

The actor continued: “I put my foot on this rock just to hang out and chill out while they were setting up and 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.”

Despite the seemingly traumatic incident, Elba chalks the whole thing up to ‘experience’.

“It was a great experience though, that was my most harrowing [film to shoot]. The director caught malaria and survived and it was great and he kept working so it was that type of shoot.”

Beasts of No Nation was released on Netflix earlier this year and is already being pegged as a main contender for awards season.

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