Apple TV+ has signed a first-look deal with Idris Elba (“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” “Luther”) and his Green Door Pictures production company. Elba will produce both series and features for the streamer.
Elba, who also starred in HBO’s “The Wire,” is the latest star to sign with Apple TV+. Other celebrities on the roster include Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Oprah Winfrey, Jason Katims, Lee Eisenberg, Monica Beletsky, Sharon Horgan, Alena Smith and Simon Kinberg and Alfonso Cuaron.
Green Door has produced several comedies, including “In the Long Run” and “Turn Up Charlie,” which aired on Netflix for a season. Next up for the company is the film “Concrete Cowboy,” which is expected to screen at the Toronto Film Festival in September.
All three titles feature Elba.
Separately, Jake Gyllenhaal will star and produce “Snow Blind,” a thriller based on the graphic novel, for Apple TV+. “Snow Blind” will be the third Apple Studios production. Gustav Möller (“The Guilty”) will direct and Patrick Ness (“Chaos Walking”) is tapped to write.
“Snow Blind” is about a high-school student in Alaska who posts a picture of his father online — and up-ends his family life as a result. Now, they are on the run from the FBI and a man who wants to kill his dad.
Gyllenhaal has eclectic film credits, from “Brokeback Mountain” to “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” His next movie is the indie horror “Relic.” Gyllenhaal starred on Broadway in “Constellations” and “Sea Wall/ A Life.”