USA TODAY International Edition
Jamie Foxx on being first Black lead in a Pixar film
The actor, who voices a character in “Soul,” shares what he learned this difficult year.
Jamie Foxx was “blown away” by the chance to voice the first Black lead character in Pixar’s storied history with the new film “Soul.” For him, though, the animated world was just catching up to the creative landscape he has worked in his entire career. h When Foxx started on the sketch comedy show “In Living Color” in the 1990s, he was surrounded by Black actors, writers and producers, as he also was starring on “The Jamie Foxx Show” that followed. “Soul” just happens to be “a great evolution,” Foxx says. “This is historic. This is monumental. My daughter ( Anelise), 12 years old, she could brag to her friends like: ‘ Yo, my dad is in a Pixar film! He finally made it. I don’t know what he’s been doing until now.’ So you embrace that, man. That’s a good thing.”
Foxx, 53, stars in “Soul” ( streaming on Disney+) as Joe Gardner, a middleschool band teacher and jazz pianist who falls down a manhole, ends up in the afterlife, and helps a new soul ( Tina Fey) learn about the joys of living while trying to get back to his body on Earth.
The Oscar- winning actor could relate with Joe’s passion for music: Early on in his career, “that’s all I wanted to do,” Foxx says. “I grew my hair out. I had a Jheri curl like Lionel Richie because I thought I was going to be ‘ the new Lionel,’ as my grandmother would say. But comedy took off first.”
It has been a hard year for Hollywood – and for Foxx, whose sister DeOndra Dixon died in October at age 36 – but COVID- 19 hasn’t kept him from working. He and daughter Corinne collaborated on the upcoming Netflix comedy series “Dad Stop Embarrassing Me” ( based on their relationship), and Foxx is filming the Netflix movie “They Cloned Tyrone” with John Boyega.
Foxx talks with USA TODAY about “Soul,” the future of movies and what he has learned in a tough 2020.
Question: What does it mean to you to release an uplifting movie like “Soul” right now?
Jamie Foxx: I think we need it. I just look at the world and how 2020 has been a year of high anxiety, a year of a lot of uncertainty, a year of a lot of displaced anger. ( But) nothing makes you happy like Disney. The minute you say Disney, you think of the ears, Disneyland, all of that. So whatever metaphoric sword you’ve had swinging all this
year for whatever you’ve been fighting, you can lay that sword down that day and just watch and escape.
Q: Your daughter Corinne is also on Disney+ this month in the new sports movie “Safety.” Are you guys taking over streaming?
Foxx: It’s so amazing to see her journey because I pushed for her to get in it early. I said, “Nah, don’t go to college. Just become a Hollywood star.” Worst dad in the world. And she’s like, “Dad, I ain’t listening to you.” So she actually went to USC, got her degree, and then she got in it the way she wanted to get in it, and she’s literally taking it over. Not just on Disney+ but on Netflix. We created a show where she’s actually my boss – she’s my executive producer – and she doesn’t let me get away with anything. If something ain’t funny, she’ll call me: “Dad, what was that?” I’m really super- proud of her, and it’s a great thing to celebrate at the end of the year.
Q: “Soul” was a theatrical release that changed to Disney+ as a result of COVID- 19. What do you think about where the movie industry is going in terms of streaming vs. theatrical?
Foxx: Well, unfortunately, the movie theater industry was taking some hits ( pre- COVID- 19). Unless it was a super, super, super- big Marvel film, it was hard to do business. But at the same time, we cherish those moments of being able to get out and share with each other. I don’t think the movie industry will come back the way it normally was for a while, but we are innovative. We know how to go in at halftime and say, “OK, this is what’s happening,” and come back out with another game plan.
I’m going to be honest with you: I did a movie “Sleepless” ( in 2017) and nobody went to see that. When everybody was quarantined, I looked on Netflix and that movie was No. 2. I was like: “Hold on, wait a minute, Something’s going on here!” However we get entertainment, I think it’s just up to us to keep creating.
Q: After a tough year, what have you learned about yourself?
Foxx: That I’m not afraid to fight. I’m not afraid to love on my family and not afraid to say “Hey, I’m vulnerable at times.” ... And not afraid to say: “I know that there’s going to be something good in the end. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Q: Are you doing anything special for the holidays?
Foxx: I’m not for sure where we’re going to be, but it’ll be bittersweet. My daughter ( Anelise’s) mom lost her father. We lost our sister. So it’ll be our first Christmas without them, but wherever we will be, we will have a whole lot of love in our heart.