Why working in ‘Any Given Sunday’ convinced Jamie Foxx he could act: “This is great, no matter what happens after”
Actor, singer, comedian. Jamie Foxx has many strings to his bow. The superstar, whose real name is the much less dynamic Eric Bishop, got his start as a member of the sketch show In Living Color. A stint on his own sitcom followed, before he ventured into the world of music. He won a Grammy for his song ‘Blame It’ and famously featured on the Kanye West track ‘Gold Digger’, which topped the US singles charts and platinum eight times over.
As for his acting career, Foxx has appeared in some seriously impressive films. He played the lead role in Quentin Tarantino’s blood-soaked Western Django Unchained, lent his voice to Pixar’s Soul, brought Miami Vice’s Rico Tubbs to the big screen, and faced off against Spider-Man as the villainous Electro. He’s also an Academy Award winner, having scooped the ‘Best Actor’ prize for Ray, the biopic of legendary musician Ray Charles.
How did Foxx go from a TV sitcom star to a big-time Hollywood actor? According to the man himself, his role in sports drama Any Given Sunday played a huge part. “Oliver really challenged me,” Foxx told Entertainment Weekly, referring to the movie’s director, Oliver Stone. “The first time I auditioned he was like, ‘You’re terrible.’ Because I was loud, TV is loud. I learned how to be smaller and go toe-to-toe. I was going toe-to-toe with Al Pacino and doing this big scene and at one point he flubbed his line and goes, ‘You’re crazy, you’re out of your mind… you’re a good actor!’ And I was like, ‘Wow, this [is] great, no matter what happens after.’
Any Given Sunday, which was released during the middle of The Jamie Foxx Show’s run, stars Al Pacino as Tony D’Amato, head coach of the fictional Miami Sharks American football team. Foxx plays Willie Beaman, the team’s third-choice quarterback, who gets his shot after the two players ahead of him get injured. Over the course of the season, Willie grows in confidence under D’Amato’s watchful eye and leads the team to a big championship match.
Elsewhere in the interview, Stone and cast member Bill Bellamy revealed that another performer had initially been earmarked for Foxx’s role. “We had Puff Daddy at one point,” Stone confirmed. “He was not really a natural athlete, so we waited him out.” Bellamy confirmed this, adding that the rapper “could not throw. His mechanics were just off. He could not put enough velocity on the ball.” Given the current situation surrounding Sean Combs, they dodged a giant bullet, casting Foxx instead.
Whilst he had been in movies before Any Given Sunday, Foxx’s career took a serious step up following this gig. Two years later, he appeared in Ali, the Will Smith-led biopic of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. Four years after that came the Oscar win for Ray, which took place at the same ceremony where Foxx was also nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his role in the film Collateral.
He might have received a bit of tough love from Stone at the start, but those harsh words paid off big time in the end. Foxx was able to take that constructive criticism and build on it to improve his skills – skills that would eventually land him a place amongst the Hollywood elite.
