Jamie Foxx Wants to Remake a Stephen King Classic With a Black Lead

In a horror marketplace driven by Jordan Peele’s complex psychological horror films with Black protagonists, a Jamie Foxx-led take on Stephen King’s classic Misery seems like a no-brainer — and, indeed, that is apparently an idea that Foxx has had. In a new interview, Foxx told Men’s Health magazine that he has already rewritten the story, which centers on a best-selling horror author who is kidnapped and tortured by a super-fan who wants a sequel to one of his most popular works. The Foxx version, apparently, is loosely based on an interaction he had with a couple who won an evening with the star at a charity auction.

Foxx is no stranger to taking on iconic roles, of course; besides Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spawn in the planned Spawn reboot, Foxx has played real-life musician Ray Charles, a portrayal for which he won an Academy Award. Other beloved roles for Foxx include Miami Vice, Dreamgirls, Collateral, and Django Unchained.

“Opportunity gets me moving,” Foxx told Men’s Health. “Great idea, then I went to sleep and I woke up and that shit was in my dream. Now, I wrote the Black Ocean’s Eleven, or I just rewrote Misery.”

Obviously, Foxx did not go into much detail about the couple from the charity auction — you don’t want to publicly slam people who gave a bunch of money to charity to see you, ater all — but he did have a few things to say about the night in question.

“You know what an actor loves more than money? Compliments,” Foxx said. “I was supposed to be there for 30 minutes. I ended up staying there for two hours — doing shit from Ray. But then it got weird. So I built upon that.”

That likely suggests that his take on Misery could start out more innocently, and turn scary as things went. 

This wouldn’t be the first new take on Misery. Since the 1990 movie starring James Caan and Kathy Bates, the character returned in a 2020 season of Castle Rock on Hulu, played by Mean Girls star Lizzy Caplan.

Would you watch a version of Misery starring Jamie Foxx? Who would you want to play the Annie Wilkes character? Sound off in the comments below, or hit up @russburlingame on Twitter to talk all things comics and horror.