From the Oscar-winning Ray to Django Unchained to, er, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Jamie Foxx’s résumé is nothing if not eclectic.
This is an actor who jumps from one unique project to another, and wholly commits himself to the role at hand. His latest? A lead role in the Spawn reboot coming from Todd McFarlane, and it turns out Foxx didn’t take much convincing before he signed along the dotted line; as a matter of fact, he “jumped in with two feet.”
Via ComicBook.com, McFarlane recalled some of his early meetings with the Oscar-winner, during which time he outlined the tone and style of Spawn and what it means to play the part of Albert Francis Simmons.
I was fortunate enough, I went to my first ask, which was Jamie Foxx. I had talked to him before. I had talked to him at my office, coincidentally, years before, to express his interest in Spawn. So when he left, I thought, ‘That was a kind man,’ he was very charismatic, very sweet person. And usually, you have to go to the stars. He flew to my office, he went from L.A. to Phoenix, and I went, ‘Wow.’ Anybody who makes that effort, I owe them the courtesy of, when I’m ready to actually take this project into Hollywood and start casting it, I owe him the courtesy of going back to him to say, ‘Hey, good sir, are you still interested?’
This isn’t the first time that McFarlane has gone on record about landing Jamie Foxx, nor is it likely to be the last, but below you’ll notice that he’s immensely excited about having Foxx as his new Al Simmons.
Now, I thought he’d long forgotten that meeting, but he was like, ‘What took you so long?!’ Like, ‘Todd, of course I’m in! What are you talking about, let’s do this!’ He jumped in with two feet, it wasn’t even a hard sell.
The R-rated Spawn movie is still waiting on that all-important green light from the Powers That Be, though with McFarlane, Jamie Foxx and Avengers star Jeremy Renner (!) all on board, we imagine it’s only a matter of time before the wheels are in motion.