Jamie Foxx to star in Spawn reboot
The star is joining original Spawn creator Todd McFarlane's upcoming comic book adaptation
Despite whispers of super-hero fatigue in the wake of Avengers: Infinity War, the comic book film train is showing no signs of slowing down. Jamie Foxx is the latest star to be drawn in to the fold as the lead actor in Spawn, an adaptation of Image Comics' flagship character – a CIA officer who, after being burned alive, returns to earth as a demonic warrior.
Deadline reports that Foxx is to star as the titular anti-hero in the film, which will not be a re-telling of the character's origin story (as has already been seen in a 1997 live-action film version) but will find him in the throes of battles set across heaven, hell and earth.
Spawn will be written and directed by the comic book's creator, Todd McFarlane, at a comparatively lower-budget than his Marvel counterparts (around $10-12 million according to reports) – and he intends it to be the first instalment in a trilogy.
“Jamie came to my office five years ago, and he had an idea about Spawn and we talked about it,” McFarlane told Deadline. “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.'”
Foxx himself added that he had "the enthusiasm of a young child" to play Spawn. The passion is certainly there – fingers crossed the audience's appetite is too, whenever this eventually finds its way to cinemas.
