That Spawn reboot no one really asked for is actually assembling quite a cast. For one thing, it already has Jamie Foxx playing the title character. And it’s got the production backing of Blumhouse.
Now it’s going to add another big name to the cast. New reports confirm Jeremy Renner will be joining the cast as Detective Twitch Williams, the one half of the private investigating duo Sam and Twitch. More on the story below.
Deadline says Renner is the latest to join Todd McFarlane‘s directorial debut. A new adaptation of McFarlane’s popular comic of the same name, Spawn centers on Al Simmons, a member of a CIA black ops team who is killed in a seemingly botched operation that was actually an inside job. In exchange for returning to the physical world to see his wife, Simmons accepts an offer to become a hellspawn warrior. Unfortunately, he is stuck in a demonic form and his wife has moved on. Now, Spawn uses his newfound powers to clean up the streets of scum and villainy.
Renner will play Twitch, a character who is considered the brains and intuition of the Spawn lore. A description of the character says “This unconventional detective is near fearless and compliments Spawn’s demonic powers, and it is that combination that will help Spawn win his war.”
Here’s what McFarlane had to say about bringing Renner on board:
“As a first time director, I wanted to surround myself with the most talent and the most skilled people I can on all fronts. I was lucky enough to land Jason Blum and then Jamie Foxx, and I knew the person on screen the most is this police officer, Twitch Williams. We needed as strong a person as possible because he will be the face of the film. I took my naïve Hollywood approach again, and said let’s start at the top and work down. Jeremy was at the top. I’m a huge fan of his. The character doesn’t need to be a bodybuilder or GQ handsome. I was looking for somebody who’s a person you’ve met before; I needed someone who can pull off the grief of an average human being. I’ve seen Jeremy do that in more than a few of his movies. He was at the top of my list, just like Jamie.”
MacFarlane compares the Spawn and Twitch pairing to King Arthur and Sir Lancelot. The former being Spawn, while the latter is Twitch. He says that this isn’t about “physicality” or “jumping over buildings.”
He added:
“This is more a brawn and brain combination, and the first film I think of with him is The Hurt Locker, the army grunt doing the job, and that spilled out into all these roles leading up to Wind River. There was a sense of melancholy to that character that is important and that was a movie also made by a first time director, but one who wrote the thing and so wasn’t nervous about trying to get what you want. Jeremy had the experience of working with the first timer and saw that if you put a good crew together, the whole is way better than the parts and you don’t have to worry.”
Producer Jason Blum chimed in with:
“Jeremy is the ideal choice for Twitch Williams. He radiates honesty, intelligence and a hard-working, everyman charisma, the same qualities that make Twitch such a compelling character.”
While the project is coming together, it still does not have studio to fund, market, and distribute it. The 1997 film didn’t exactly give way for sequels and due to its poor reception and any chances for a franchise faded away. However, Blumhouse has a knack for making some really great films on a small budget. In fact, the film is budgeted at $10 – $12 million. The goal is to release a hard-R film with the potential for a franchise.
We will keep you posted on any new updates should they come in.
[Source: Deadline]
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