Jamie Foxx Will Star In Blumhouse's 'Spawn' Adaptation

by: James A. Barnes

Deadline reports that Jamie Foxx is set to star as 'Spawn' in Blumhouse's movie adaptation of Todd McFarlane's comic book of the same name. Todd McFarlane is set to write, produce and direct the film under the banner of Blumhouse Productions. 

Foxx will portray Al Simmons (Spawn) a CIA Black Ops operative who is betrayed by his employers and murdered. While in hell Simmons agrees to become a Hellspawn warrior in exchange for being able to be reunited with his wife. But Spawn finds himself stuck in a demonic form, and his wife has moved on and is married to his best friend. Simmons becomes an antihero protecting his city from evil that encompasses Earth, Heaven and Hell.

The film is set to be R-rated and will have a production budget between $10M - $12M. Macfarlane has stated that he always had Foxx in mind when he wrote the script and that he doesn’t intend to tell Spawn‘s origin story, and the antihero will be a man of few words.

While speaking with Deadline, McFarlane had this to say:

“The scariest movies, from Jaws to John Carpenter’s The Thing, or The Grudge and The Ring, the boogeyman doesn’t talk,” “It confuses people because of the comic book industry, and because they all default into their Captain America mindset and I keep saying, no, get into John Carpenter’s mindset or Hitchcock. 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. 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. Luckily, there’s a movie that just came out that helps my cause. In A Quiet Place, the first thing on screen is a card in black and white letters that says Day 89. It doesn’t care about what happened in those first 88 days. There are a couple headlines, but then we are on day 450. That movie doesn’t worry about explaining and giving all the answers. What it said in that case was, if you can hang on for a story of survival of this family, this movie will make complete sense for you.”

When Deadline asked Blumhouse Chief Jason Blum about the project, he had this to say:

“We are thrilled Jamie Foxx will be playing the title role in our movie adaptation of Spawn,” “He is an incredible actor and a huge fan of the Spawn Universe that Todd McFarlane created. With the depth of talent Jamie can commit to the role and Todd at the helm bringing the world of Spawn to life, we could not be more excited for this film.”

Spawn made his first appearance in Spawn #1 released in 1992, published by Image Comics. Spawn has been written by some of the comic book industries greatest writers such as, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, David Hine, Paul Jenkins, Steve Niles, and Brian Holguin. Spawn's abilities range from Teleportation, Immortality, Shapeshifting, Healing factor, Superhuman strength, Swordsmanship, and Agility.

Spawn was turned into an animated series that ran from 1997 to 1999 and had a live action adaptation in August 1997 that starred Michael Jai White as the antihero himself, Spawn. The film had a production budget of $40M and grossed $87.8M Worldwide.

Having Spawn's creator Todd Macfarlane writing the script and directing the film and having Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx in the title role, I have high hopes for the film and I can't wait to watch it in theaters. No release date has been announced as yet, so stay tuned to Careful 4 Spoilers for updates !