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After 21 years, Todd McFarlane’s classic comic book antihero Spawn is gearing up for a return to the big screen and word is Jamie Foxx is set to star as the demonic avenger.
According to Deadline, Foxx apparently had it in the bag all along as he was the man that McFarlane wanted for the role ever since the two chopped it up about the superhero years ago.
“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.’”
Spawn made his debut in 1992 when Todd McFarlane and a gang of other top comic book talent such as Jim Lee and Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld bolted from Marvel to begin their own imprint, Image Comics. From then on Spawn’s story of a CIA Black op Al Newman turned demonic superhero saw its popularity soar to heights that rivaled that of any iconic superhero at the time.
Eventually Spawn’s popularity led to a live-action film in 1997 starring Black Dynamite himself, Michael Jai White, but the movie was a dud on so many levels that a sequel wasn’t even considered. On the other hand the animated series on HBO was a massive hit and left fans wishing for a proper live-action rendition of the character.
Now that Spawn creator Todd McFarlane’s going to be at the helm to make his directorial debut maybe fans will get what they’ve been clamoring for more than two decades. The first time director even teases the possibility of a trilogy.
“If you want to see something creepy and powerful where you go, just what the hell was that? I’m not going to explain how Spawn does what he does; he is just going to do it. We’ll eventually do some of the background if we make a trilogy, but that’s not this first movie. The first movie is just saying, do you believe? And if you believe than that’s good because I’m hoping to take you for a long ride with this franchise.”
For his part Foxx totally underwhelmed in his first comic book depiction of Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man but that was mainly due to a weak script and suspect plot. But being that the Oscar-winning actor is a huge fan of the Spawn comic book series and is familiar with its universe we’re expecting Foxx to deliver big time and set himself apart from other live-action superheroes that we wept for at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.
Jamie Foxx: “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.”
Todd McFarlane’s Spawn is set to drop sometime in 2019.
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Jamie Foxx Set To Star In Todd McFarlane’s Spawn Movie was originally published on hiphopwired.com
