Jamie Foxx tackles some incredibly tough material in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming spaghetti western/slavery drama Django Unchained, but he recently lined up something a bit lighter for his next project.  Foxx has been tapped to play the villain Electro in director Marc Webb’s sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, and with production set to begin early next year, Foxx has begun preparing for his comic book turn.

Though superhero productions are normally incredibly tight when it comes to story details, Foxx was surprisingly forthcoming in a recent interview when he was asked about this new iteration of Electro.  He talked about changes to the costume, how the character goes from good guy to bad guy, his relationship to Spider-Man, and more.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

The folks over at MTV asked Foxx about the backstory for his Electro character, and instead of sidestepping the question and remaining vague about the new take, the actor went right into story details and even delved a bit into his origin:

“You’ll see his whole life is just no one is talking to him, people have stolen his ideas at the company, he’s a nobody.  And at a certain point Spider-Man bumps into him and says, ‘You’re my guy, you’re my ears and eyes on the street,’ and he says his name, Max, and no one’s ever said Max Dillon’s name, and he goes ‘Wow.’  And so when Spider-Man leaves he sort of thinks that somehow, ‘I am Spider-Man’s partner,’ and so he starts cutting out his face and pasting it on his board at home.  When everything goes bad, his mom doesn’t remember his birthday, I mean all these crazy things happen until finally he has something tragic happen, and then when it turns on he lights it up.”

I imagine someone over at Sony will be giving Foxx a stern call very shortly.  No matter, it sounds like there’s quite a strong sympathetic edge to Foxx’s approach to Electro, and the actor seems like a fine fit to bring some heart to the antagonist.

electro-spider-man

Presumably the “lights it up” comment refers to the character’s electrified powers, and Foxx also spoke a bit about changes to the character’s iconic costume:

“Marc Webb and all those guys that are doing it are smart, they know that it has to make sense in 2013.  The suit is really slick, it’s actually black, but it’s the new age.”

In the comics, Electro famously dons a bright green and yellow outfit.  Alas, it sounds like there’s been a significant change to the character’s color palette for the film.  Foxx elaborated a bit more on the costume during an interview with Blackfilm:

“They want to have it more grounded and not as comic book-y, so it won’t be green and yellow. They want to try new things, like a liquid rubber and things like that, and there are all these bolts and stuff in my arms when they are hanging me upside down and trying to figure out what happened. How did he become this way? So, it will be some new stuff.”

You can watch the full MTV interview below to see Foxx spill the beans in person.  The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is set for release on May 2, 2014.

andrew-garfield-the-amazing-spider-man-image
Image via Sony Pictures