While comic book antihero Spawn might not have gotten the same glory as Marvel and DC heroes, it’s still very much a well-loved story that’s seen multiple adaptation attempts, including a terrible film in 1997. For Spawn’s upcoming second round on the big screen, creator Todd McFarlane has decided to take matters into his own hands, helming the Blumhouse Production adaptation as director and writer.
The cast, with only Jamie Foxx confirmed so far, now welcomes a new member – Jeremy Renner. Renner will be playing Twitch Williams, half of the NYPD detective duo Sam and Twitch who began at odds with Spawn, but later ended up working with him. Sam and Twitch even later got their own spin-off series after appearing in Spawn comics.
Meanwhile, Foxx will be playing Al Simmons, a black ops agent who was betrayed, killed, and his soul sent to hell for the innocent lives he took while working for the CIA. He strikes a deal with the demon to see his wife once again, but returns to Earth too late to see that his wife had moved on, and as part of the deal he became a demonic, disfigured creature later known as Spawn.
Even though Spawn is the titular character, McFarlane is reportedly looking at making Twitch the main character instead, citing the importance of the character in Spawn’s journey. He had his eyes set on Renner for the role for quite some time, and adding him to the cast was a no-brainer.
“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”
Renner, of course, is no stranger to the world of comic book movies, with his biggest grossing roles being Hawkeye in numerous MCU films. But McFarlane was most drawn to Renner’s performance in The Hurt Locker, believing that Renner would be the best choice to portray the brains and charisma of Twitch that balances out the brawn of Spawn.
A superhero movie, where the superhero is a side character? That’s certainly a different approach, but a promising one that might shake things up in the predictable genre, especially with the compelling character of Twitch being played by the talented Renner.
Joyce is a language nerd whose idea of a good time includes speed-solving Rubik’s cubes and binging Netflix, all fuelled by drinking many, many mugs of tea.
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