Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Funny guy, family man
Actor, former Las Vegan pushing 50 and loving it
Over a decade since his Academy Award win for “Ray,” Jamie Foxx’s personality still rattles the walls. It’s big. It’s bold. And it radiates intensity, even on a rainy weekday morning in Los Angeles padding around town in a red plaid shirt, black jeans and oversized gold sunglasses. To a fan taking a selfie, he launches into song: “Baby, you better get this right or you will be sorry later….” This is (almost) 50? “My own daughter is like, ‘Dad, will you please catch up to your age,” said Foxx who turns the big 5-Oh in December. “You live young. You keep the weight off of you in every sense.” To that end, Foxx banged up his body playing a Vegas cop in the new film “Sleepless.” On any given Sunday, however, you’ll find him wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey at his Hidden Valley, California, home with 7-year-old Annalise, and grown daughter Corinne.
RJ: What is a typical Sunday like at the home of Jamie Foxx? Foxx: “Ah, Sundays! I love them. You know, it’s all about family and football for me. I got the kids around me, which is great. There are my daughters, plus nieces and nephews who live with us. I get all the kids up and then we hit the kitchen.” RJ: What’s the house specialty? Any tips? Foxx: “I make a mean blueberry pancake. You just keep adding blueberries.” RJ: You’re a Grammy and Oscar winner. Do you do dishes? Foxx: “I do them. I’m a regular guy. But first I might let them soak because on Sundays I work on unspoiling the kids. This is important. First, there has to be a religious component to this day, so I encourage the kids to read the Bible. Then I will tell them they owe me about 100 shots on the basketball court outside. It’s good exercise, and it keeps everyone off the electronics. Afterward, we sit down and watch
“It was New Year’s Eve, 1998. I was backstage, looked up and saw Prince in the corner. I started marching up to him … I reached Prince, he looked at me and then I started crying. I respected him so much as an artist.” JAMIE FOXX
football.”
RJ: Turning back the clock a bit, few know that you lived in Vegas for a period of time.
Foxx: “Oh yeah. I landed in Vegas in the ’90s because I ran out of money. I was in LA in 1994 and basically I ran out of cash. So, I started thinking, ‘Where can I go to regroup?’ I had just enough cash to get me to Vegas and rent me a little house near the Mormon Temple. Nobody I knew was living in Vegas in those days. But it was real good for my daughter and me. I had the space to make my next plan. Plus, you could get a steak and lobster for $4.99 any time of the day. You can’t beat that.”
RJ: Did you work in Vegas?
Foxx: “I performed at the Hilton, but this was before all the big hotels started having resident acts. I was grateful.”
RJ: Was there one Vegas moment that changed you?
Foxx: “I met Prince on Dec. 31, 1998, during the ‘When Doves Cry Tour.’ I never seen nobody like that in my entire life. This was an artist.”
RJ: You actually partied like it was 1999 with Prince when it turned 1999?
Foxx:
(Laughing). “Prince was living in Las Vegas doing his show at Studio 54. It was New Year’s Eve, 1998. I was backstage, looked up and saw Prince in the corner. I started marching up to him because black people march. That’s just what we do. I reached Prince, he looked at me and then I started crying. I respected him so much as an artist. All I could say to him was ‘Man, you know who you are!’ Then I started singing his songs to him. I said, ‘Prince, I know the B sides, too.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, well, thank you. I gotta go perform.’ Before he left, I begged him for a picture. This was in the old days where you snapped a picture on your little boxy camera. There was no delete. No looking at the finished picture on a phone. What I got was this picture of me and Prince with my thumb over it.”
RJ: What do you remember most about the actual show?
Foxx: “It was Vegas on New Year’s Eve, which is exciting enough. Then you had Morris Day announce, ‘Break it down! I’m about to bring somebody out here!’ I’ll never forget Prince walking out onto that stage in a feathered, purple bomber jacket and black pants. He had this huge purple guitar and these big Gucci shades. They started playing together and then he did a guitar solo. I remember every moment.”
RJ: When are you going to make some new music?
Foxx: “Oh, I’m doing something new. We’re recording right now.”
RJ: And you’re making movies like “Sleepless,” which you mostly filmed in Atlanta, but you play a Vegas cop whose son is kidnapped and held hostage
inside a casino. Director Baran bo Odar said he gave each actor a keyword to get into their character. What was your word?
Foxx: “Sexy! He would whisper to me between takes, ‘Sexy.’ That’s all I needed. (He begins to sing) ‘Sexy cops and robbers. We’re playing sexy cops and robbers.’ … Honestly, I did think this was a great character for me. He’s layered in a way where you don’t know if he’s good or bad. You don’t know that from moment to moment. You’re never sure of his struggle. Personally, I find those type of not-all-good, not-all-bad characters so much more interesting to watch.”
RJ: Over 200 fans gathered for your outdoor scenes. What does that feel like?
Foxx: “It was my job to entertain them between takes. You gotta have fun in life. Me, as a person, wants to make sure that I never forget that I’m doing something called make believe. I work in Hollywood. I’m not that guy going, ‘It’s another 14-hour day! And all they have here is Evian water. And Craft Service is (expletive).’ I try to make it where there still is something fun to do every single day. Meeting people is part of my fun. Making them laugh is even better.” RJ: How do you handle the ebb and flow of any Hollywood
career?
Foxx: “I talk about this with Jermey Piven who I think is one of the most incredible actors. I’ll say to him, ‘J, it’s tough being a white male actor, isn’t it? There are about a billion white male actors, but there are just nine of us. There’s me … Will … Samuel L. Jackson. The good news is that I’m going to work!’ The more serious answer is what an agent once told me. He said if you’re talented, you will always have an opportunity to work. The ones who should be afraid have something or someone propping them up.”
RJ: You turn 50 this year. Are you freaking out? Eating dinner early? Buying a new red sports car?
Foxx: “I’ll tell you a funny story. I like DJing at clubs. One night, I’m hanging out with Drake and Kayne and these girls come by. One says, ‘Well, I’m 22. She’s 21. Our friend over there is ancient. She’s 27!’ Then she asked, ‘So, Jamie, how old are you?’ When I said 49 — and I said it proudly — you would have thought I had a terminal disease. I said ‘You can’t die from being 49!’ Then I heard, ‘Come on, girls, let’s go.’ It’s the way you live your life. I live young. I make my blueberry pancakes. I make movies. I make music. I’m a happy 49 about to do his 50 thang.”