'Spawn' Reboot Taps Jamie Foxx for Lead Role
The highly-anticipated "Spawn" reboot finally found its lead star.
Deadline revealed that critically-acclaimed actor Jamie Foxx will portray the titular role based on the comic book character of the same name.
According to the report, Foxx's character started as the CIA black ops member named Al Simmons who experienced betrayal twice in his life. His experiences prompted him to become an antihero who aims to find justice in the society.
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"Spawn" comic book creator Todd McFarlane will also write and direct the movie as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
In his Twitter post, McFarlane confirmed Foxx's casting in the movie by posting a photo of the two of them. He mentioned that he already envisioned Foxx as the actor who will portray the film's lead character when he was just writing the script.
"Jamie came to my office five years ago, and he had an idea about Spawn and we talked about it," McFarlane stated. "I never forgot him, and when I was writing this script, you sort of plug people in, and he was my visual guy and I never let go of him. When I got done and my agents and everybody was talking about what actor, I said, I'm going to Jamie first and until he says no I don't want to think about anyone else because I've never had anyone else in my head," he added.
Foxx also expressed his excitement about the film, saying that he already told McFarlane that he was interested to portray the comic book character five years ago, and his long wait officially paid off.
"I told him no one would work harder than me if given the opportunity... well... the opportunity is here!! I'm humbled and ready to transform... and to top things off the young Jason Blum is lending his brilliance to the project! Time to be great!!!! #Spawn," the multi-awarded actor stated.
Film producer Jason Blum also released a statement about the casting news, saying that they are very excited to get Foxx on the project. According to Blum, Foxx has a reputation for being an amazing actor. He also acknowledged that he is an avid fan of the Spawn Universe that was created by McFarlane. "With the depth of talent Jamie can commit to the role and Todd at the helm bringing the world of Spawn to life, we could not be more excited for this film," the movie producer also stated.
McFarlane's film directorial debut is not the first time that "Spawn" will be seen in the big screen. In 1997, Mark A.Z. Dippe directed a superhero horror movie based on McFarlane's comic book series. It stars Michael Jai White in the titular role, making him the first African American actor to play a major comic book superhero.
The first "Spawn" movie also starred John Leguizamo as The Violator, Martin Sheen as Jason Wynn, Theresa Randle as Wanda Blake Simmons-Fitzgerald, Sydni Beaudoin as Cyan Simmons-Fitzgerald, Michael Papajohn as Glen, as well as D.B. Sweeney as Terry Fitzgerald.
Meanwhile, the rest of the cast for the "Spawn" movie reboot remains under wraps. Other details of the film, as well as its release date, are unannounced at the moment.
