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Film
Up Close & Personal with Academy Award Winner Jamie Foxx: Foxx Discusses his Upcoming Role in "Jarhead" Plus "Dreamgirls," "Miami Vice" and Reflections on His Career and Ascension to Hollywood A-List Talent
posted on Nov 4, 2005
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| Jamie Foxx as Staff Sergeant Skykes in the Gulf War drama, "Jarhead." |
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| Jamie Foxx as Staff Sergeant Skykes, Director Sam Mendes and Jake Gyllenhaal as Anthony Swafford take a break from shooting the Gulf War drama, "Jarhead." Photo: Francois Duhamel. |
When Universal Pictures' "Jarhead" opens on November 4, audiences will see Jamie Foxx in another outstanding turn, this time as Staff Sergeant Sykes, the leader of a scout-sniper platoon during Operation Desert Storm. Based on Anthony Swofford's New York best selling novel of the same name the film stars Jake Gyllenhaal ("Proof," "The Day After Tomorrow") in the central role of young marine recruit Tony Swofford and Peter Sarsgaard ("Flightplan," "Skeleton Key") as his fellow recruit.
Foxx won the role as Staff Sergeant Sykes when executive producer Lucy Fisher asked "Ray" director Taylor Hackford to see the film before it was finished and immediately knew Foxx was the guy for the role. "He's such a fine actor," she says. But when Foxx won his Academy Award for "Ray" in the middle of shooting Jarhead," Fisher was a bit worried about how Foxx would feel in a supporting role.
Foxx says his decision to take a supporting role in "Jarhead" was a no-brainer. "You know what? I think, in this situation, you look at Sam Mendes -- to get a relationship with Sam Mendes -- I think it was worth all of that because he's an Oscar-winning director. And like I said at the time, nobody really knew what 'Ray' would do. 'Ray,' at one point for a while, didn't have a home. You know, so it was like, 'We gotta get crackin. We gotta get movin.' We had to get our hustle on - and this was a great hustle - because it's a good book. It's meat on the bone. It's not contrived."
Executive producer Douglas Wick says the Oscar win gave Foxx new stature on the set as the leader of the pack. Foxx recalls the post-Oscar vibe on the set: "It was great, man. It was great getting back to the set because those young guys were like, 'Yo man, how was it? They wanted to know who was there at the Oscars."
Reflecting on his career, Foxx recalls how it all prepared him for the role in "Jarhead" and "Ray." "It's been a great ride. If you look at "In Living Color," you see the training ground. I mean, because those guys were doing things. I laugh even harder now. They were doing things that weren't just jokes in your face; they were doing real characters. We were trying to get characters' different feelings, make them more than one-dimensional, so it was a great training ground being under Keenen [Ivory Wayans] and Damon [Wayans] and Jim Carrey and all of those cats. So, with this, you're happy that you have that background and those tools to be able go into some of the characters that we've gone into. We've played sergeants in some of our sketches. Now all that you do is knock off the funny and actually play the sergeant. You do Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder, knock off the funny and actually do the character, so to see it play out like it's played out, it really makes you feel good on the inside. Whatever's coming next, you're going to be able to get into it and try to make it happen for you."
Foxx is currently shooting "Miami Vice" in Miami. "'Miami Vice' is going great, man. Colin Farrell's a great individual - a lady killer. You know what I'm saying? It's just great to see him get into that Crockett role. It's right up my alley. Guns, you know, the city, and the different look that Michael Mann's going to put on it. It's going to be hot!," he says.
When "Miami Vice" wraps, Foxx will move onto his next project, "Dreamgirls." Once he found out Beyonce and Eddie Murphy were in it, "I've got to get that! I don't care if you pay a dollar, man I need to be in that! Because that's going to be outstanding," he says. With rumors floating around that "American Idol" winner Fantasia may be cast as Effie, Foxx adds, "I think that Fantasia is outta here. If Fantasia does a movie, it's in the stratosphere. Nuts, you know?
Will Foxx tackle another biopic? He says he'd love to do the Marvin Gaye and Mike Tyson stories. "I always thought that the Marvin Gaye story was incredible. I mean Marvin Gaye, if you know anything about the Marvin Gaye story, there's some things about Marvin Gaye that you don't know in this building that will blow your mind, as far as not even his music. Just him as the man, there's some things that would make you go, 'What?!' So, whoever tells this story, you know it's going to be great…And I think the Mike Tyson story is the most interesting story that you don't know. Nobody knows the stuff that I know. The stuff that I found out. It would blow your mind. Mike Tyson gives you phrases that if you listen to it, it'll blow your mind."
Foxx started his career in Hollywood as a comedian. After spending time on the comedy circuit, he joined the landmark Fox sketch comedy series "In Living Color." For three years he was seen alongside Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans and Tommy Davidson in some of the funniest and most memorable television moments. Foxx then went on to star in "The Jamie Foxx Show" for the WB Network for five years. Foxx not only starred in the series, but was also the co-creator, executive producer and director of several episodes.
Foxx's big film break came in 1999 when Oliver Stone cast him as Willie Beamen in the Warner Bros. film "Any Given Sunday," alongside Al Pacino. In 2001, he played Drew "Bundini" Brown in the Columbia Pictures film Ali, opposite Will Smith and directed by Michael Mann. Foxx followed "Ali" with his first HBO Comedy Special, "Jamie Foxx: I Might Need Security" in February 2002.
Foxx's other movie credits include "Stealth" for Columbia Pictures; "Bait," directed by Antoine Fuqua; "Booty Call," which starred Tommy Davidson and Vivica A. Fox. He co-starred with Janeane Garafolo and Uma Thurman in the 20th Century Fox hit "The Truth About Cats & Dogs," and with Samuel L. Jackson, Damon Wayans and Jeff Goldblum in "The Great White Hype."
Foxx is also a Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter currently riding high on the pop, R&B and rap charts as Kanye West's guest on his #1 single "Gold Digger," will release his first album for J Records on December 6. Foxx describes the album, entitled "Unpredictable," as "the fulfillment of a lifelong dream." The official first single will be the album's title track "Unpredictable," featuring rap phenomenon Ludacris. Other album guests include Mary J. Blige, Pharrell Williams, Twista and Timbaland.
Universal Pictures presents "Jarhead" in association with MP Kappa Productions A Lucy Fisher/Douglas Wick Production in association with Neal Street Productions. The film opens nationwide on Friday, November 4.
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