Ready to Show He’s Got Game

Jamie Foxx knew he’d be working with Al Pacino when he arrived at Miami’s South Beach to film “Any Given Sunday,” Oliver Stone’s bone-crunching new football film. But Foxx wasn’t sure who was going to show up at the set.

“I thought I was going to meet ‘Scarface’ or ‘Godfather,’ ” Foxx says with a smile. “I thought I was going to meet both of them, in a sense, Scarfather. But he turned out to be very, very gentle as far as talking to you as an actor. He was very helpful in rehearsing and making sure that everything was down pat.

“He opened up, told me stories that I thought were a privilege to listen about how he started, how he made it.”

With Foxx’s unexpectedly strong performance as Miami Sharks quarterback Willie Beaman, who wages war with coach Tony D’Amato (Pacino), Foxx may soon be the one sharing coming-of-age stories. The 32-year-old actor-comedian-singer who stars in his own sitcom, “The Jamie Foxx Show,” on the WB network, got the role when rap mogul Sean Puffy Combs turned it down because of scheduling conflicts with his recording career. He delivers one of the strongest performances of the ensemble cast, which includes such veterans as Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz and James Woods.

In the recently opened Warner Bros. film, Foxx’s Beaman goes from a third-string quarterback with the unenviable habit of throwing up just before entering a game to a player with Deion Sanders-like charisma, brashness and endorsement opportunities.

“I had very strong instincts about him right away, from the moment I met him,” Stone says of Foxx. “When Jamie appeared, it was clear as a bell that he had that quality that I was looking for in a quarterback: anger. There was an anger there, but it was leveled by humor.

“He was so prepared, he really is a worker and he came to the set every day prepared. He came through for me big time.”

As a logical step other actors might have decided to study Pacino’s previouswork and quizzed those who have worked with him in order to prepare for the biggest role of their careers. But as Willie Beaman might have done, Foxx went his own way.

“What I didn’t do was prepare to be with Al Pacino,” Foxx says. “I prepared to do the role. I feel like if you prepare to do the role, then that’s half the battle.”

Of course he had a built-in advantage. “I played football in high school, I played quarterback, so it was second nature,” he explains. “If it got chaotic on the set, I knew that I could rely on the fact that I know the game and if I play the part, they’ve got to catch up with me.”

Foxx uses analogies to explain his take on most situations. He draws from a wealth of reference points--the black experience in America, music, “Sesame Street” and, of course, sports.

Sitting in the austere recording studio lodged in his Tarzana home, Foxx comes across with an intensity that belies his comedy background. It’s almost as if he’s back on the set with Pacino, explaining with grave seriousness the multiple layers of meaning contained within Stone’s latest epic undertaking--the film runs a Stone-like 2 hours and 40 minutes and is filled with bitter rivalries, angry confrontations and neurotic outbursts. To say nothing of what happens on the field.

D’Amato struggles with, among others, his new boss, Christina Pagniacci (Diaz), the daughter of his former friend and deceased team owner, who he thinks knows little about the game and is telling him how to do his job. Pagniacci feels as if she’s not respected because she’s female, while the team’s physicians are pressured to go against their medical training and allow the team’s stars to play even though it clearly endangers them.

Then there’s Beaman, who, upon reaching full-blown celebrity status, starts feeling pressure to live up to his reputation as a kind of hip-hop sports star. Jealous teammates question his decision-making process, as does D’Amato. His flamboyance doesn’t help things either.

“It speaks past football,” Foxx says of the film and his character’s conflicts with a white coach and power establishment. “It’s coming from a white director who allows people to see it 1/8racism 3/8. When 1/8Stone’s 3/8 talking about football and racism, he’s really talking about life and racism in general.”

Foxx, who dropped his given name Eric Bishop in order to secure more stand-up gigs, grew up in the small town of Terrell, Texas. Being heavily involved with music at local New Hope Baptist Church helped Foxx earn a music scholarship at San Diego’s U.S. International University.

On a Dare, Foxx Tried Stand-Up

While in Los Angeles one weekend, Foxx and his girlfriend were attending an open-mike comedy club when she dared him to take the stage. He accepted and a new career was born.

Foxx soon landed on “Roc” and then “In Living Color,” with Keenan Ivory Wayans, Jim Carrey and Tommy Davidson. His exaggerated female character Wanda brought him national attention.

“He’s one of those guys that doesn’t come along every day,” says Marcus King, one of Foxx’s managers. “It’s just a matter of him releasing all of the things that he does.”

Yet, in the world of entertainment--much like that of sports--success can also make you a target for criticism. His starring role in the film “Booty Call” was denounced by Bill Cosby because of what Cosby thought was a negative portrayal of African Americans. “The Jamie Foxx Show,” which Foxx also produces, has been attacked by the Hollywood-Beverly Hills chapter of the NAACP because of what the organization views as exploitative characters and story lines.

Foxx, however, sees his show as a positive business venture for African Americans. “I wanted to be able to do that to show people that we can do it,” he says. “We don’t necessarily have to keep saying, ‘Oh man, can I get this from the establishment, from the white man?’ We can do it ourselves and work along with whites, with blacks, with Hispanics, because I think it’s a beautiful thing when you’re able to do that and rely on your own resources to make things happen in a great way, a nonracial way.”

This willingness to defy conventional thinking comes out in his portrayal of the quarterback in “Any Given Sunday.” Even though Beaman flaunts his celebrity, listens to rap music, defies authority and is a professional athlete, Foxx doesn’t allow him to be a cliche; he gives the character a depth and credibility rarely achieved in sports films. The film ultimately is as much about Beaman as it is about Coach D’Amato and in the end their two fates are intertwined.

It’s the first time in his career that Foxx has been in a big-budget film with a big-name director and stars. It’s a sea change from the smaller-budget operations that currently fill his resume.

“It’s a different playing field,” he says. “ ‘Booty Call’ and ‘The Jamie Foxx Show,’ which are great things, are kind of like high school teams. Those are great teams, but with this, this is like pearls. When you have more money, you’re able to create more. The creativity level is up and you’re able to make more choices because the cash flow is there.

“That’s where they benefit. When you do $100-million movies 1/8”Any Given Sunday” reportedly had a $52-million budget 3/8 the money is there. You don’t have to worry about, ‘I wish I could do this shot because it would complete my thought.’ You just do the shot because the money is there. That’s what makes it great and now I’m spoiled.”

After “Any Given Sunday,” Foxx hopes to continue expanding the variety and sophistication of his acting. Next year he’ll appear in the romantic comedy “Inconvenienced” and the thriller-action-comedy caper “Bait.”

“In situations in Hollywood, it’s just a matter of getting a chance to swing the bat,” Foxx says. “You never know what you can do until you’re given a chance. Therefore, when you get the opportunity to go into the game, when you know you can play, it kind of overrides the butterflies. When it’s your time to shine, there’s no time to get nervous.”

Willie Beaman couldn’t have said it better himself.