Jamie Foxx to play Spawn in comic creator Todd McFarlane's directorial debut
Fan favourite Jamie Foxx is all set to star in Spawn, which be the directorial debut of Todd McFarlane who created the original comic and is now going to write the screen adaptation too. He is also on board to produce the movie with Jason Blum.
Foxx will be playing the role of Al Newman, a member of a CIA black ops team. Al's story revolves around how he was set up by his cohorts to be murdered, with his corpse set aflame. But it doesn't stop at just that. In Hell, he is convinced to turn into a Hellspawn warrior, in exchange for a chance to reunite with his wife.
Sadly, neither of those work out — leaving Spawn stuck in a demonic shell after finding out that his wife moved on to marry his best friend. Thus begins the journey of this anti-hero who wows to rid the city of all its scum — with battles both good and evil — encompassing Earth, Heaven and Hell.
The character of Spawn had first appeared back in 1992 and was a huge hit throughout the 1990s. The character had found popularity amongst comics enthusiasts almost immediately and, in 1997, it was turned by New Line into an animated film and live-action epic with Michael Jai White playing the lead role.
Eventually, HBO had also taken up the project to give their own edge to the anti-hero in an animated series that went on for three seasons, each with six episodes, and earned two Emmy Awards.
For those curious about Spawn's origin story, McFarlane doesn't have much to reveal, expect that his character will be a man of few words. "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," he revealed in an interview with Deadline. "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."
For special powers, Spawn has superhuman strength and speed, and near immortality, the ability to teleport, shapeshift, and heal. And Foxx can sure be expected to deliver that, as this is his second superhero film, after having played Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
He will also be seen starring next in Robin Hood: Origins as Little John and has previously also recently directed and stars in All-Star Weekend. His most recent appearance was in Sony’s Baby Driver.