Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx is set to take on the title role in the SPAWN reboot and the actor explains why it was a necessity for him to do the film.
In an interview with "Yahoo", Foxx shared that he is ready to play Spawn/Al Simmons and a lot of it has to do with the success of Marvel's BLACK PANTHER:
"I surprised Todd McFarlane. I said, 'Bro, I know that one day you will do this movie, and I hope you will keep me in mind.' What Black Panther did was let us know that it's so necessary, and it's the time. And Spawn is just an interesting character itself. The heads that are being put together to bring you something special – look out."
Created by Todd McFarlane, Spawn is a comic book that was first published in 1992 by Image Comics and, as of 2019, it's the longest-running creator-owned comic book series. There was a film adaptation done back in 1997, starring Michael Jai White and John Leguizamo, but it was met with overall poor reviews and so-so box office. What made the film significant was that it was praised for being one of the first superhero movies to feature a Black character s the lead and, in its own way, the film has gone on to become a bit of a cult classic. From there we got Wesley Snipes' turn in the BLADE trilogy and it makes sense that Foxx would reference BLACK PANTHER because that film was a hit on such a massive level when just about everyone thought it might not be, especially on a worldwide scale since some studios have a false idea that African American driven films don't sell well internationally. Featuring a predominately African American cast, BLACK PANTHER grossed $1.3 billion worldwide and proved that notion wrong.
Foxx's road to SPAWN has been long but it's nice to see it's still happening. McFarlane expressed his desire about making an R-rated SPAWN reboot since the disappointing release of the 1997 film. The reboot finally gained some traction when Foxx signed onto the film in 2018 and it was also announced that Jason Blum was producing while McFarlane would be taking on writing and directing duties. The reboot is said to have a different tone than the original film and will be more in the horror genre. According to McFarlane, the film will go "dark" and "ugly" with less fun and more serious and supernatural elements. A script for the film does exist but McFarlane has been pretty secretive about the plot other than saying it's not an origin story.
The enthusiasm for the project from all involved is what has me looking forward to it and I'm personally happy that Foxx is still very much attached because it seems like near-perfect casting for this new take on the character. Do YOU think this new take on SPAWN will be better than the original? How do YOU think Foxx will do in the role?