A rumor linking Jamie Foxx with Todd McFarlane's Spawn reboot turned out to be right on the money!
The rumor suggested that McFarlane had offered Foxx the role of Al Simmons, aka Spawn, after the Academy Award-winning actor remarked that he was interested in playing the part. Deadline just confirmed an official announcement that Foxx and production company Blumhouse reached a deal.
Blumhouse has since confirmed the news via Twitter, along with a photo of Foxx, McFarlane, and company owner Jason Blum:
Todd McFarlane, Jason Blum, and our #Spawn…Jamie Foxx. Read all about it here: https://t.co/2rpP4W0o2r pic.twitter.com/m2XQz1i4Ir
"” Blumhouse (@blumhouse) May 29, 2018
Spawn director Todd McFarlane, star Jamie Foxx, and producer Jason Blum (Photo Credit – Blumhouse)
McFarlane’s Spawn reboot will be much more than just one more big-budget superhero extravaganza. The director plans to make a dark, R-rated adaptation on a relatively modest ($10 million to $12 million) budget. In 1997, Mark A.Z. Dippé's original $40 million movie was initially rated R, but the producers decided to tone down the violence to earn a rating of PG-13.
McFarlane told Deadline that he hopes to launch a trilogy with the reboot, but added that the movie won't be an origin story:
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…I'm not going to explain how Spawn does what he does; he is just going to do it. We'll eventually do some of the background if we make a trilogy, but that's not this first movie. The first movie is just saying, “Do you believe?” And if you believe, that's good, because I'm hoping to take you for a long ride with this franchise.
