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WHOA – Jamie Foxx A Top Contender To Play Frank Sinatra In Scorsese’s Biopic?
Upon initially reading this, I thought it was some kind of a prank… a practical joke… a mischievous act… like maybe I’d just been punked by Twitter king, Ashton Kutcher. But then I Googled it, and found several prominent sites reporting on it, so I thought there must be some validity to it. Unless all media press outlets are in cahoots with one another, which any conspiracy theorist out there will readily argue in the affirmative. According to various reports, Jamie Foxx, the African-American actor, singer and comedian, has been named as a top contender for the role of Frank Sinatra in Martin Scorsese’s biopic of the entertainer.
Foxx, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 film Ray, is reportedly considered to be “perfect” for the role. If he is chosen for the part, it will be one of the most prominent examples of “color-blind” casting in Hollywood history. Also in the running are George Clooney, Leonardo di Caprio, Harry Connick Jr and Justin Timberlake. Wait a minute, Justin Timberlake? Is Scorsese fucking with us here? Really! Is this some kind of a ruse Marty? Come on man… In defense of some of these choices, specifically the potential casting of Foxx, an unnamed source is said to have stated: “Cool is color-blind. Jamie would seem to be born to the role. Magnificent singing voice, totally convincing acting ability, like Frank himself, born the wrong side of the tracks, rags to riches, makes it big against the odds, has his brushes with authority. The guy’s a gift.” Maybe Scorsese was so impressed with Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan pseudo biopic, I’m Not There, that he plans to emulate it. I am warming up to the idea however. Cool is color-blind. Indeed. It could be an unconventional attempt at the traditional biopic – the actor chosen for the role embodies the spiritual essence of the person rather than their physical presence. Go for it Marty! I dare you… Although I don’t know how the Italians would react to an act that some will likely consider blasphemous. via TELEGRAPH
26 comments to WHOA – Jamie Foxx A Top Contender To Play Frank Sinatra In Scorsese’s Biopic? |
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If this happens, it won’t end well…….
I saw that too earlier this morning. It has to be a mistake that was picked up and copied by multiple outlets. I mean come on. Not only would it mean that Foxx is starring as Italian American icon Sinatra, it would also mean Scorcese is directing a film with a black lead. I don’t which of the two is the most unlikely.
ROTFLMAO!! OK… Breathe… That’s better. Um, as an actor/singer, Foxx can probably pull it off. Maybe we’re all being taken in too much by the one obvious difference rather than the several similarities.
After all, if Eddie Murphy can convincingly do an old Jewish man, then I don’t see why Foxx can’t do Ol’ Blue Eyes.
What interests me more is how “the white community” will take the news. Will there be an uproar? And if Foxx does land the role, will we see even more white actors blacking up for certain roles – Angelina and Downey Jr have been there.
Maybe this is a way for black-face to make a politically correct come back with a perfect counter: but Jamie Foxx played a prominent white character!!
Either this is a hoax or Foxx’s people printed it in the papers as a trial balloon to see if it’ll fly. Just like a few years ago Diddy’s people printed that fake story that he was interested in playing James Bond
Diddy’s story about him being interested wasn’t fake. Any interest by the studios is however.
I don’t know folks… I’m still liking the idea… if it is true. Like I said in my post, I’m not even thinking of Foxx physically embodying Sinatra – so, no white-face, and absolutely nothing like what Eddie Murphy did in” Coming To America,” to address MsWoo’s comment. But rather Foxx representing the idea of Sinatra, the intangibles… I like the possibilities this presents, and what it all says about the human experience… essentially that underneath our “colorful” surfaces, we’re all really quite similar.
I think it would be a bold move on Scorsese’s part, and depending on his execution, it could be brilliant.
There are interesting and important things about life that we can all relate to. This is the planet earth and it is round and all things connect. Oblique casting of roles is something that flies in the face of this unfortunate thing called “political correctness”. Political correctness can go to hell! It’s nothing but a form of censorship and has no place in the expression of art. Isn’t this type of casting the holy grail of acting? It’s good for everybody. It will help people see past the Madison Avenue “packaging” of everything that makes us blind with our eyes wide open.
Is this the Lars von Trier version of the Sinatra story you’re reading about? No? Well…
Scorsese films all take place in the dimension where none of us ever left Africa. This guy does mad stories based in New York — no Black people. He is one of the most brilliant science fiction directors of all time, second only to Woody Allen, who also often shoots in this Universe. Perhaps Scorsese is doing an ALL BLACK version of the Sinatra story, and Angela Bassett will be cast in this as well!
“Isn’t this type of casting the holy grail of acting?”
FRANK SINATRA?! Wha?!
What exactly am I missing here? WHY is this such a coveted role again?
This story = Eddie Murphy playing the Riddler.
George Clinton once said: “Mind your wants because someone wants your mind.”
You may be proving my point, how hard it is to think about how we think without thinking. If you focus on the package you miss what’s inside.
In “Gangs who was in the Dead Rabbits gang…I’m just saying if you use absolutes you must be totally correct.
In “Gangs of New York” there was a black character in the Dead Rabbits gang…I’m just saying that if you use absolutes you must be totally correct.
hahaha…okay so, I stand corrected. In over 45 projects he’s directed, there was a Black dude in one.
I like Scorsese’s work, mind you. I’m just saying that it’s not LIKELY that this will happen. I go further to say that it’s unnecessary. There are certain racial barriers that should be broken. For example, the Harry Potter franchise is pretty doggone white for a story based in fantasy. I don’t see how having a Black Frank Sinatra on film helps actors or, for that matter, filmmakers.
@ Daryle, we need to stop with these expectations we have of white filmmakers including us in their works. I don’t expect Woody Allen or Scorsese to suddenly change their approach. They write about their worlds and we should write about ours. Homestly i’d hate for either of them to include a black character in their films just because we say so, or they include a black character that’s a carricature or that’s poorly developed. Let them do theiir thing and we’ll do ours.
Also I don’t see how playing Sinatra wouldn’t be a coveted role. The man’s a legend to many. And i’d say that Scorsese’s name brings weight to it. Like him or not, he’s one of the most respected filmmakers alive. And I think a lot of top actors would fall over themselves to work with him.
I doubt that the audiences flooding the multiplex to see Tyler Perry’s Medea oeuvre are going to pry themselves out of their seats to see this, let alone wrap their minds around Jamie Foxx “embodying” Sinatra. But there’s been a black Kojak, so who knows?
I don’t see it working. And I wouldn’t be interested in seeing him play it. It’s just to out there.
I’m not gonna completely write this film off. Like Tambay, I’m interested to see how Scorsese pulls this off.
@ Miles, I agree that Madea fanatics probably aren’t the target audience; that said, depending on the films quality, I think this film could have a broader appeal. Controversy sells. Perhaps this is a multimillion dollar experiment in “post-racial” Obama-nomics….
As for writers only writing about their worlds, that’s a complicated issue. I mean, I live in rural Virginia with tomato farmers. Black people are far and few between. My neighbors, classmates and community is largely white. Am I prohibited from writing a story about my community’s idiosyncrasies simply because I’m black?
I remember it was only mere months ago that friends of mine surprised me with sentiments that went along the lines of a black president being an impossibility. I was told by one friend that a lot of people were in for a big disappointment. I reminded him that the same thing was said when Harold Washington became Mayor of Chicago to which he had no rebuttal.
The world never changes on the strength of conventional wisdom. The uncanny occurrence and the rare oddity happen as if there were no odds against it at all. The odds are only the summation of conventional thinking. After the odds are beaten everyone behind the curve falls in line. Suddenly flight is possible, invitro fertilization is commonplace, face transplants are already up to two worldwide, the Berlin Wall came down, The Soviet Union is no more, gas is more than a dollar a gallon, everyone has a “Star Trek” communicator in their pocket, the list goes on and on.
Remember the hell that Galileo went through with conventional wisdom and thinking when he proved the heliocentric movement of the planets. Ignorance is laughable in hindsight, but it is up to the artist in society to see around corners and look beyond the curve. If an artist can’t do this he will be the Antonio Salieri of his time. A footnote beneath greater visions.
A creative person should be asking questions. If they believe they have the answers then they should quit the arts and enter politics. As far as writing what you know, this again is a form of censorship. It’s an old wives tale that should be done away with. A writer need only learn enough to lie colorfully. We cannot have nontraditional casting and tell creatives to stick with what they know. To close the distance between us we have to stop being so schizophrenic.
@ ghost
You’re right in saying that we should be free to write about whatever we like as long as we know what we’re writing about. My comment about writing about our own worlds was not race-specific. I guess I mean we should write what we know. So if your reality is that of a black person living in rural Virginia among mostly white farmers then that’s “your world.” It doesn’t mean you can’t write about something outside of that.
Write what you know. Woody Allen and Scorsese write what they know. I can’t knock them for that.
@ Gaston
We agree that writers should write what they know. I’m assuming we also agree that a bio on Sinatra is right up Scorsese’s power alley.
If Scorsese’s writes a beautiful story deeply rooted in the human experience, why can’t Jamie Foxx play the role? I mean, truly great performances transcend race–literally. There are tones (I take that back), select nontraditional cast plays where, five minutes into the show, you forget the implausibility of an African mother having Chinese children, all of them, supposedly of Pilipino decent. The x-factor is the actor’s ability.
Whether Jamie Foxx has the vibrato–the effortless ability–to pull off this roll…now that, I feel, is the crux of the debate.
It looks like a joke to me.
And if its true, it is a daring move,,,,,but to be honest, I probably wouldn’t go & a see a movie about James Brown being portrayed by BRAD PITT either.
You guys really need to wise up. Here’s Gawker from May 18: “Last week we made a joke that Jamie Foxx should play Frank Sinatra in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming biopic about the singer. Well, now Brit tabloids are making the same joke, except they call it ‘reporting.’”
You’re debating something which isn’t just a rumor, it’s a rumor based on a joke. Don’t you feel stupid now?
And if you’d take time to read the rest of the blog you’d see that there was a followup post that addressed this. Dop YOU feel stupid now?
What’s the point in being such a shit?
@Hmmpf
Boy did you miss the point. We couldn’t know if the Jamie Foxx casting consideration was real or not. The web is a dubious place for information. The fact that unconventional casting has been a concept discussed for years is what the subject of this thread is about. It allows black actors in particular to play roles that would only be considered for whites. Dennis Haysbert played the president of the united states on 24. That couldn’t happen if everyone’s thinking was slap dash and dismissive like yours. Hey wouldn’t it be something if your opinion made any difference? Right off the bat you miss the point and then become dismissive without contributing anything intelligent to the discussion. We were doing some productive thinking here, the kind they don’t teach in public schools. If you’re not going to make the effort to think, and you want to be the smartest guy in the room, you’re guaranteed not to learn a damned thing. Bruce Lee said it best, and he was one our most profound minor prophets, “It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory”
Remember it ain’t likely that we’re more stupid than you.
Let’s see…Bernie Casey in Boxcar Bertha, Forest Whitaker AND Bill Cobbs in The Color Of Money, Ving Rhames in Bringing Out The Dead, Samuel L. Jackson and Isaiah Whitlock in Goodfellas, the cat that played Sugar Ray Robinson in Raging Bull, Anthony Anderson in The Departed…that’s just off the top of my head. Daryle…if you don’t know shit about movies, please stay the fuck off the boards. Thanks. As per the topic, I, as a Black man, see Jamie Foxx as Sinatra about as well as Tom Hanks in the role of Martin Luther King. In a straightfoward biopic, it won’t work. As an I’m Not There type of experiment, probably. Unless this IS all a joke. Guess we’ll wait and see.
“Also in the running are George Clooney, Leonardo di Caprio, Harry Connick Jr and Justin Timberlake” – I think people are missing the fact that out of these people, Jamie Foxx probably does look the most like Sinatra. That’s not a joke. Knowing what you know about Foxx’s abilities, look at his face and you can definitely see it being very possible and convincing.