Michael Jai White, the star of 1997’s Spawn, says he’s willing to star in Todd McFarlane’s reboot.
Todd McFarlane has been hard at work trying to get a new Spawn franchise off the ground. At one point, the comics legend had both Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner attached to the project, though it’s unclear if either are still with the project given its time spent in development hell. In fact, it’s been brewing for so long, some are wondering if Michael Jai White—the actor who originated the live-action Spawn role in the 1997 picture—could return to the character.
According to White, he hasn’t thought much about doing a Spawn sequel, though he admits he wouldn’t turn the role down if asked.
“If I was invited to do it, then I’d apply myself toward it, but I mean, I think it’s been talked about for a very long time. And it seems that Todd McFarlane has been leading that conversation. I didn’t quite understand. I mean, I guess, there was talk about him directing it, but he had never directed before, so I thought that was kind of strange. It’d be a huge budget. All the power to him, but that would be an interesting decision to make,” White said in a new chat with ComicBookMovie.
That’s when White gave Foxx his stamp of approval, saying he’d like to see what the Oscar-winning actor could do as Al Simmons.
“I have respect for the fan base that put me where I am. I would be there. But yeah, I don’t quite understand what the concept is. I know Todd mentioned the concept of not seeing the character and be kind of like Jaws, like you can’t really see it but it’s there. He described something to me that I didn’t agree with,” White added. “I didn’t think it would work. I don’t know if he’s still doing that, but I think that to do a sequel is to do it as a hard R and make it very dark and badass. I think it needs to be like the cartoon or plain and simple: the comic book. Outside of that, I don’t think I’d be interested in doing it if it wasn’t going for the jugular.”
The new Spawn reboot has yet to set a release date, while the original film can be purchased wherever movies are sold.