According to the Hollywood Reporter,Todd McFarlane has finally cast his demonic anti-hero for the long awaited reboot of Spawn, and it's the man he's wanted all along; Jaime Foxx. Apparently, Todd McFarlane had spoken with Foxx years ago about the project, and Foxx is as pumped now as he was all those years ago. Foxx said, “A few years back I flew out to Arizona to meet the man behind one of the most incredible comic book characters in the universe… Todd McFarlane. He was taken aback when I told him with the enthusiasm of a young child that more than anything I wanted to put my name in the hat to embody his beloved character Spawn…. 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.”
According to McFarlane, the reason he wanted Foxx so badly for the role are pretty straightforward. He doesn't want Spawn to be a chatty Cathy, instead he wants the demonic badass to be more of the strong, silent, menacing type. Said McFarlane, “There are five or six moments where I’m going to need things from my actors, and a couple of them have to come from Jamie, and I’ve seen him deliver them onscreen,” McFarlane said. “He gets into a zone, with body language and a look that basically will say way more than anything i could type on a piece of paper, and this movie is going to need those moments. And in the odd moment where he has to deliver a line that’s short, curt and has impact, he can do it in a way that makes you go, ‘Whoa, I don’t want to mess with that guy. What a badass.'”
McFarlane went on to talk about his first meeting with Foxx, nearly a half decade ago, saying, “Jamie came to my office five years ago, and he had an idea about Spawn and we talked about it,” McFarlane said. “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.'”
Fans have along awaited this reboot after the Michael Jai White, John Leguzamo and Martin Sheen 1997 bomb that relied on special effects more than anything else. There's no release date as of yet, but stay tuned for more Spawn news.
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