By In a bit of a surprise announcement, it’s looking very likely that Jamie Foxx will be taking on the role of Electro in Mark Webb’s follow up to The Amazing Spider-Man. Variety has reported that Foxx is in early talks to play the villain, which on it’s own is promising enough, but Webb himself has even commented on the possible casting. When asked by Coming Soon about Foxx’s rumored involvement in the film, the director avoided a precise answer by instead saying “I think Jamie Foxx is electrifying!” The cheeky bastard. He goes on to comment on Foxx and his talents:
I think Jamie Foxx is one of the best actors around today. He’s such a great character actor and he’s a really brilliant guy. I would love to work with him and you’ll be hearing more on that shortly, I’m sure.
Webb must have a terrible poker face, because if that isn’t substantiation I don’t know what it is. I had lukewarm feelings toward The Amazing Spider-Man, but I definitely saw potential in the ground work Webb was laying, and he himself even commented on the freedom he now has now that the origin story has been told.
What’s exciting about moving forward is that, in the first movie, I had to still honor some of the important elements of the origin story. But I also wanted to redefine the context of it because I’m building a different universe than what we’ve seen before. A lot of the nuance is quite different. Now, as we’re approaching the sequel, it’s really exciting because I feel quite liberated. I have a universe that’s my own. I don’t have an obligation to the origin story. It’s pretty fun and exciting and I can dig deeper into the parents.
Let’s hope that if Foxx really is going to be the villain for the sequel he’ll be given a character that he can lend some weight to. The last thing I want to see is the talents of an actor wasted on a shoehorned role in a superhero movie. We all know how that usually turns out.
[via First Showing]