According to several websites today (and many more by tomorrow) it seems that the Spawn remake is going to move forward for a 2015 release with Jame Foxx in the lead role. Several of these sites have reported that creator of Spawn, Todd McFarlane has hinted that the Academy Award winner has expressed extreme interest in the role. Heck, Foxx even stated to several folks that he wants to land the role. it seems that the only thing holding this up is the contracts.
Check out the article posted today by Yahoo;
We’ve already heard tell that a new big screen adaptation of dark comic book ‘Spawn’ is in the works, with none other than Jamie Foxx having professed a determination to take the leading role. Now, there’s some word on how things are shaping up on the matter direct from the character’s creator, Todd McFarlane – who is very much holding onto the reins this time around, after the disappointment of the 1997 movie. All being well, the reboot should be going before cameras fairly soon – and, says the creator, “it’s not going to be a giant budget with a lot of special effects, it’s going to be more of a horror movie and a thriller movie, not a superhero one.”
McFarlane tells The Gate, “They want me to deliver the script by the end of the year, which would basically mean we’d be shooting next year. So, that’s the goal right now… the thing that keeps slowing it down is that the negotiation I’ve done is I write, produce, direct, but I’ve got to push a lot of my other endeavours off to the side so I can just get tunnel vision on it.”
This would mark McFarlane’s first time at the helm of a feature film. Though seasoned as a comic book writer and artist, his only directorial effort to date is a music video for Korn. Still, he seems confident in his ability to pull it off.
Curiously, even when The Gate asks McFarlane outright about Jamie Foxx’s possible involvement, McFarlane avoids referring to the actor by name; presumably playing it safe until the contracts have been signed.
“We’ve had some big names-like who you’re mentioning-come to the office and go ‘We want to be in it’… Sometimes they give me their pitch, I give them my pitch, I go, ‘We can get in it, this is how it goes’, and so those types of actors-Academy Award guys-they’re going, ‘As soon as that scripts done, we’re going’. So once we get this thing done, we’ll get it off the ground with some big names.”
This is much the same as what McFarlane told MTV on the subject earlier this year, again without mentioning Foxx by name.
Creator or no, there’s always a degree of uncertainty involved when an untested director takes on a major project for their first directorial effort. Being a talented comic book writer and artist does not necessarily make one a great director; take Frank Miller, and his less-than inspiring efforts on ‘The Spirit.’ Even so, few would question that the 1997 ‘Spawn’ movie utterly failed to do the character justice, so perhaps the only way is up – even for a character who’s hell-bound…
Watch the full interview with Todd McFarlane at The Gate.
By Ben Bussey co-edits horror website Brutal As Hell, and holds an MA in Cult Film & TV from Brunel University. His biggest disappointment with the 1997 ‘Spawn’ movie is how poorly it showcased Michael Jai White, who should have become a much bigger action star by now. (Check out ‘Black Dynamite’ – it’s great.)
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