Jamie Foxx is taking on his first comic book movie role since playing Electro in Amazing Spider-Man 2. Mike Fleming Jr. from Deadline is reporting that Foxx will star in Todd McFarlane’s upcoming Spawn movie as the title character.
If you aren’t familiar with the character’s origin, Spawn is an anti-hero created by Todd McFarlane in 1992. Spawn, otherwise known as Al Simmons, a CIA agent who was betrayed and murdered by his friend Bruce Stinson (codenamed Chapel). After being sent to Hell for killing innocent people, Simmons made a deal with a demon in order to return to his wife. In return, the demon would receive Simmon’s soul. When Simmons returned home, he realized that five years have passed, his wife had moved on with her life, and he has been deformed into a demonic looking creature.
Todd McFarlane, who created the character and will direct the upcoming project, sent out this tweet confirming the report:
Hanging out with #Spawn… @iamjamiefoxx and @blumhouse ! For the FULL @#Spawnmovie story from @DEADLINE head HERE: https://t.co/CAp0kkwSQd pic.twitter.com/KEaQDFwtad
— Todd McFarlane (@Todd_McFarlane) May 29, 2018
In the Deadline article, Todd McFarlane had this to say about the casting:
“Jamie came to my office five years ago, and he had an idea about Spawn and we talked about it. 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. Luckily, he hadn’t forgotten either. I said, ‘Hey, I’m back to talk about Spawn again, and he was like, let’s do it.’”
Foxx is the only actor attached to star in the project so far and the film is slated for a 2019 release window.
Is Jamie Foxx the right choice for Spawn? Do you think this movie will turn out better than the 1997 version? Let us know in the comments and be sure to follow us here at The Nerd Stash for all of your nerdy news and needs!