Idris Elba Says New Sports Show Human Playground Changed His Idea of 'What Human Beings Can Do'
Alex Piper
Idris Elba says narrating his new Netflix series Human Playground was all about "broadening perspective."
The movie star, 50, serves as the voice of the documentary project and penned an introduction to the accompanying Human Playground photo book, shot and written by Belgian photographer Hannelore Vandenbussche in an effort to "explore the unifying force sports has on humanity," according to a press release.
Elba has significant athletic experience from performing stunts in action movies to training as a professional kickboxer for an entire year, but he tells PEOPLE that working on the documentary project with Vandenbussche and series director Tomas Kaan helped open his mind to what people can accomplish.
"This documentary, this team, literally widens my point of view on sports, on being an athlete, widen my perspective on endurance and what human beings can do, what they're capable of," Elba tells PEOPLE. "And so if people are watching this at home and going, 'Whoa. I struggle just to get to the gym,' that's okay."
Hannelore Vandenbussche, taken from the book Human Playground: Why We Play published by teNeues Publishers
"Because there's other ways you can get that same feeling from the gym," he adds. "You might be able to just go for a walk, and walk further than you've ever done before. But in your own way, you can push yourself. You can expand."
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The Human Playground photo book, published by teNeues Publishers, captures shots of 15 unique sports and games played across the world. It most often focuses on games deeply inshrined in different culture's histories, far older than many of the globe's most commercially popular athletic competitions.
Hannelore Vandenbussche, Human Playground: Why We Play published by teNeues Publishers
The book "reveals the many ways humans experience play in the form of six universal themes: ancient rituals, rites of passage, business, pain, perfection and sacredness," a press release states. "It unveils the original and often extreme ways people use sports to express who they are in some of the most astonishing playgrounds on the planet."
"This book is not just about sports; it's about tradition, skill, perseverance, honor and ultimately about what makes us human," the press release adds.
While the book and series examines surfers who travel to Portugal to seek out the largest waves on Earth, Nigerian dambe fighters and the Mongolian nomadic eagle hunters, Elba tells PEOPLE that he found himself most interested in trying out the Dutch sport fierljeppen, which the book describes as the Netherlands' "oldest and most traditional sport."
"There's an episode where we talk about these Dutch farmers who have this sport where they leap over canals or waterways, and they use this huge pole," Elba says of the sport, which originated centuries ago as a practical method for farmers to cross waterways in central Europe. "They run up the pole and then leap as far as they can. And I would love to try it out. It just looks like a lot of fun, you have to be really strong and agile."
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Hannelore Vandenbussche, taken from the book Human Playground: Why We Play published by teNeues Publishers
Elba tells PEOPLE he felt the athletes documented in Human Playground have "a very dedicated mindset" to accomplish the feats they achieve, specifically referencing ice diver Kiki Bosch as capable of athletic efforts he calls "next level, really."
While Elba says he has not tried ice diving, as depicted in Human Playground's first episode on Netflix, he recalled bathing in "really, really cold water" in Finland before visiting a sauna as he emphasized to PEOPLE how disciplined an ice diver must be.
"Honestly, my eyeballs froze over how cold it was. I was in shock, but I felt so incredible," Elba tells PEOPLE. "And then going in, obviously, to do the other extreme was incredible. And I realized that, wow, I don't have the mindset like someone who jumps into ice and swims and holds their breath."
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A press release for Human Playground states that photographer Vandenbussche's "dream is for Human Playground to shine a light on humanity's incredible beauty and diversity and the planet we inhabit."
Hannelore Vandenbussche, taken from the book Human Playground: Why We Play published by teNeues Publishers
For Elba, his main takeaway from the series "is that people can find so many innovative ways to really challenge themselves, and I find that fascinating."
"I think when we leave the playground as young people, as kids, recess or whatever, or going to the park just to kick a ball or whatever, when we stop doing that as adults, a piece of us dies," Elba tells PEOPLE. "But it's not completely dead because you can invigorate it again to go out there and expand."
All six episodes of Human Playground are streaming on Netflix. The Human Playground photobook was published on Sept. 15.
