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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2012)
Arts & Entertainment Jamie Foxx The “Django Unchained” Interview Academy Award-winning actor, talented Grammy Award-winning musical artist and comedian Jamie Foxx is one of Hollywood’s rare, elite multi-faceted per- formers. He was last seen in Horrible Bosses and also recently lent his vocal tal- ents to the popular animated adventure RIO, as a canary named ‘Nico.’ Meanwhile, Jamie recent- ly executive produced a sketch comedy series called “In the Flow with Affion Crockett” as well as “Thun- der Soul,” a documentary chronicling the achieve- ments of Houston’s Kash- mere High School Stage Band. In addition to his out- standing work in film, Foxx has enjoyed a thriving career in music. In Decem- ber 2010, he released his fourth album, “Best Night of My Life,” featuring Drake, Justin Timberlake, Rick Ross, T.I., and other artists. In January 2010, Foxx and T-Pain’s record breaking #1 song “Blame It” off of his previous album, “Intuition,” won “Best R&B performance by a duo/group with vocals” at In December 2006, Foxx was seen in the critically acclaimed C ELEBRITY screen adaptation of I NTERVIEW the Broadway musi- cal, Dreamgirls. That came on the heels of by Kam his Best Actor Acade- Williams my Award-winning performance as the legendary Ray Charles in Ray. His big-screen break the 52nd Annual Grammy came back in 1999 when Awards. Oliver Stone cast him as star In 2010, Foxx delivered a hilarious cameo appearance quarterback Willie Beamen in “Due Date,” and in Any Given Sunday. The appeared in the hit romantic versatile thespian’s addi- comedy “Valentine’s Day.” tional film credits include The year before, he starred Ali, Miami Vice, Jarhead, opposite Gerard Butler in Stealth, Bait, Booty Call, Overture Films’ dramatic The Truth about Cats and thriller Law Abiding Citi- Dogs, The Great White Hype, and an Oscar-nomi- zen. Jamie demonstrated his nated supporting role in affinity and respect for fic- Collateral. Jamie first rose to fame as tional portrayals with The Soloist in which he played a comedian, from which he Nathaniel Anthony Ayer, a initiated a potent career tra- real-life musical prodigy jectory of ambitious proj- who developed schizophre- ects. After spending time on nia and dropped out of Jul- the comedy circuit, he Keenan Ivory liard, becoming a homeless joined Wayans, Jim Carrey, musician who wonders the streets of Los Angeles. Prior Damon Wayans and Tommy to that, he played the leader Davidson in the landmark of a counter-terrorist team Fox sketch comedy series, “In Living Color,” creating in The Kingdom. some of the show’s fun- niest and most memo- rable moments. In 1996, he launched his own series, “The Jamie Foxx Show,” on the WB Net- work. Here, he talks about playing the title role of slave-turned-bounty hunter Django opposite Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Wash- ington and Leonardo DiCaprio in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Kam Williams: Hi Jamie, thanks so much for the time. I’m honored to have another opportu- nity to interview you. Jamie Foxx: [Playfully clears his throat, before answering in a very refined tone] Why thank you. [Chuckles. Then, speaks in his normal voice] What’s happening with it, Kam? KW: I suppose I should start by asking if you’d like to comment on the recent shootings in Connecticut? JF: I got two daughters, man, and all I want people to do is to mourn the loss of these precious kids and their teachers and to pray that their families heal. KW: What interested you in Django Unchained? JF: Quentin Tarantino… Leonardo DiCaprio… Samuel L. Jackson… Christoph Waltz… Kerry Washington… Oh, man! It was like an all-star team. What’s funny is that I didn’t know anything about Django, and I was hear- ing all this buzz and then I saw online how the biggest actor in the world, Will Smith, was going to work with Quentin Tarantino. And I was like, “Damn! There’s another project I didn’t know nothing about.” But luckily, I somehow got a chance to meet Quentin and read the script which I thought was brilliant. Next thing you know, I was in a See DJANGO on page 7 December 19, 2012 The Seattle Skanner Page 5
