Jamie Foxx Still Attached to Spawn Movie, Despite Reports

During a recent interview, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane revealed that the upcoming reboot film lost an "Academy Award-winning guy," which ignited speculation from some outlets that he was referring to star Jamie Foxx, though ComicBook.com has learned that the Academy-nominated creator was a writer and that McFarlane has moved on to approaching yet another award-winning writer. This news is sure to come as a relief to fans, as Foxx has long been attached to the project and has been a major point of interest regarding the reboot. While it's still unclear when the project will be moving forward, it will currently do so with Foxx as the titular character.

The speculation about Foxx's departure stems from an interview McFarlane did with Shoryuken.

"Last week I got some discouraging news, we had an Academy Award-winning guy who was going to do the movie with us, but he fell off," McFarlane confessed. "We had people willing to fund the movie as long as we had this guy attached but schedules were conflicting, and things had to change. That's how close we are to getting this thing off the ground."

While losing any member of a film's cast or crew is disappointing, McFarlane shared a much more positive update on the project last month, noting how the success of R-rated comic book movies like Joker and the Deadpool films will help his Spawn move forward by year's end.

"Everybody in Hollywood wants an R-rated, dark comic book movie, and Spawn is at the top of their list," McFarlane shared at FAN EXPO Vancouver. "The phone calls are coming in fast and rapid. I've been talking to a couple of Academy Award people, I've got the investors getting lined up. It's changed ever since the Joker from being me begging them to do Spawn dark and creepy, to them asking."

The filmmaker added, "So I'm telling you it will happen this year. This year. And I will direct it. I will be directing it."

Luckily, the wait will surely be worth it, as McFarlane aims to honor the spirit of the macabre character.

"It has to be Rated R, there's no debate around that," McFarlane shared with Shoryuken. "With the story I want to tell, my intent goes back to that Spawn Cloud. I am less concerned about what happens in the movie as long as Spawn is 'cool' and 'badass.' The last demand is that I am the director. That's it. Everything else is up for conversation."

Stay tuned for details on the Spawn reboot.

Are you relieved that Foxx is still involved with the movie? Let us know in the comments below!