Jamie Foxx Confirmed to Star in ‘Spawn’ Reboot

Jamie Foxx is officially set to star as the titular character in the Spawn reboot film from Blumhouse and Todd McFarlane.

According to Deadline, Foxx finally took on the role after rumors that he was being being courted to play the popular comic book character. McFarlane, who created Spawn and started Image Comics, will be writing and directing the film.

Blumhouse, the company who will be producing the film, tweeted out a photo of McFarlane, Foxx, and studio head Jason Blum to confirm the casting news.

While the movie will be titled after Spawn, he won’t always be the character featured on the screen. In this take on the character, Spawn will be the kind of character that lurks in the shadows, only appearing from time to time in order to capitalize on his terror.

“The scariest movies, from Jaws to John Carpenter’s The Thing, or The Grudge and The Ring, the boogeyman doesn’t talk,” McFarlane told Deadline, acknowledging that he’s gotten odd stares from studio suits in the past on this approach. “It confuses people because of the comic book industry, and because they all default into their Captain America mindset and I keep saying, no, get into John Carpenter’s mindset or Hitchcock. This is not a man in a rubber suit, it’s not a hero that’s going to come and save the damsel. It’s none of that. At the end of the movie, I’m hoping that the audience will say either, is this a ghost that turns into a man, or is it a man that turns into a ghost? I’ve got a trilogy in mind here, and I’m not inclined in this first movie to do an origin story. I’m mentally exhausted from origin stories. Luckily, there’s a movie that just came out that helps my cause. In A Quiet Place, the first thing on screen is a card in black and white letters that says Day 89. It doesn’t care about what happened in those first 88 days. There are a couple headlines, but then we are on day 450. That movie doesn’t worry about explaining and giving all the answers. What it said in that case was, if you can hang on for a story of survival of this family, this movie will make complete sense for you.”

McFarlane went on to explain that he chose Foxx to play the character because he’s seen the actor perform well when there haven’t been a ton of lines to read.

“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.’”

What do you think of this casting? Is Jamie Foxx the right actor to bring Spawn to life once again? Let us know your thoughts on the decision in the comments below!