After his Oscar-winning portrayal of Ray Charles turned him into a sought-after dramatic actor, one-time comedian Jamie Foxx followed up 2004’s Ray with a slew of serious-minded projects, including Miami Vice, The Kingdom and The Soloist. But on the eve of the release of his latest dramatic vehicle, the revenge thriller Law Abiding Citizen, the In Living Color alum is poised to return to his roots, with three high-profile comedies on the horizon: Valentine’s Day, Due Date and … Skank Robbers?
Foxx confirmed the latter film, in which he’ll pair up with funnyman Martin Lawrence, in an exclusive interview with us earlier today. “We’re gonna do [Skank Robbers] together and just really, really knock a hole in the game’s head right now with that type of big, broad comedy,” he revealed.
The project will bring together Foxx’s In Living Color character, Wanda Reid, and Martin Lawrence’s Martin alter-ego, Shenehneh, for the first time on the big screen. To gauge the public’s demand for a feature-length Wanda/Shenehneh vehicle, Foxx and Lawrence released a teaser trailer (see below) for Skank Robbers back in June. “We shot the trailer a while back to see what people would say because, you know, people might think this is corny, you know what I’m saying?” Foxx explained. “People went nuts. I’m like, ‘Yo!’ So we went to Screen Gems and Clint Culpepper, who is a friend of Martin’s, and we set it up. Now we’re getting ready to shoot that thing and get it on out.”
Lest you think that a movie like Skank Robbers is a too low-brow for a “serious actor” like Foxx, know that he’ll be joining a prestigious group of Oscar-winning actors who’ve dressed in drag for laughs, including Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot), Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie) and Robin Williams (Mrs. Doubtfire).
Click here for the rest of our exclusive interview with Foxx, whose latest film, Law Abiding Citizen, opens this Friday, October 16, 2009.
