LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Tom Hanks has weighed in on the hunt for the next 007, saying that Idris Elba is the man for the job, reports Deadline.

"Understand this. James Bond has a licence to kill. I would issue that licence to Idris Elba just based on the work that I've seen him do," Hanks told the BBC.

Elba has long been the subject of speculation with many people linking him to Ian Fleming's iconic character. But he has continued to deny any truth to the chatter.

His latest film, 'Luther: The Fallen Sun', released earlier this year and included a scene in which his titular detective refuses a martini. At the time, he told the Radio Times, "My Bond audition? Oh my God, no! I've been saying for years, no... The martini line is a bit cheeky, isn't it?"

Elba also told 'The Guardian' around the time Luther released that he remains extremely close to Bond's producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, but dismissed the idea of them ever offering him the role.

"I can't speak for them, but from my perspective, there's never been any sort of truth to any of it. It's a compliment and it's an honour, but it's not the truth."

As per Deadline, Hanks was speaking with the BBC just as his first novel, 'The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece', hit the shelves.

A fictionalised chronicle of the creation of a Marvel-style film, it received lukewarm response with the New York Times writing that "charm abounds" but calling the book "too often a maddeningly excursive endeavour".

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