KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 — He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the legendary pianist Ray Charles and now, Jamie Foxx is predicting future Oscar winners.
In a recent interview to promote his latest film, Project Power, the US actor couldn’t stop raving about his co-star, newcomer Dominique Fishback in the Netflix sci-fi action flick.
A legend in his own right, the 52-year-old is certain the 29-year-old The Hate U Give actress will one day be taking home the coveted golden statuette.
He’s even imagined what her Oscar acceptance speech would sound like.
“What I want people to take from this film is Dominique Fishback because she is amazing.
“She will be standing in front of an audience one day saying, ‘I would like to thank the academy, I would like to thank the members, I would like to thank my momma, I’d like to thank Brooklyn’.
“To me, this is a coming out party for her,” Foxx told reporters in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Fishback, a Brooklyn native who studied Theatre in Pace University, plays Robin, a teenage dealer in the film trying to make ends meet by peddling a mysterious pill that gives its taker superhuman powers for five minutes.
Foxx plays Art, an ex-soldier on a mission to track down and stop the drug’s creators.
“The movie itself is amazing but to have someone who can really bring the humanity in the film.
“This film wouldn’t work if it’s just about special effects, you have to have a vehicle, you have to have someone who is bringing it and she brings it in a way that is vulnerable, powerful and it really is true, her power does lie within and so I cannot wait,” Foxx said.
Project Power, which also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rodrigo Santoro, looks at the superhero concept through a fresh lens, directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost.
It’s a genre no stranger to Foxx who played Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
“Our movie comes from an organic place; it comes from a pill.
“You take the pill and you don’t know what you’re going to get so if you are an adventurous person, let’s grab a few pills and I’ll meet you at the park cos I’m getting ready to fly and catch on fire,” Foxx said, alluding to the effects of the fictional pill.
Fishback said the film explores the big question of what we would do if there was such a pill and the big question of what we would do if such a pill existed.
“But at the end of the day we don’t have that pill and so I would hold on to the fact that Robin’s power is within, like Jamie’s character tells her.
“I would want people to be excited about the fact that we do have powers inside of us and discovering it can be one of the most beautiful experiences of our lives,” she said.
In that regard, the film bends the genre by examining superpowers in regular people more so than a caped figure.
For Fishback, a superhero doesn’t necessarily have to have powers.
“It can just be your words or whatever gifts you have inside, if you can use that to lend itself to other people, I think that’s what makes a superhero,” she said.
Known for his sense of humour, Foxx’s answer was as unpredictable as they come, leaving press members in stitches.
“My definition of a superhero is the man who brings the party, you know. Who got the drinks? That’s my guy.”
Fishback’s experience on set in New Orleans with seasoned Hollywood stars was beyond what she had hoped for.
The cast would hang out when they weren’t on set but the entire experience culminated in what the rising young star described as the best Halloween of her life.
“We were all dressed up, Jamie rented a bus, we went to Boo at the Zoo, afterwards we went to a haunted house, shooting up zombies, swamp tours, ghost trains and all these things I only ever saw on television as a kid,” she said.
“Not only was I living my dream of being an actress on a film like this with Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt but I was also living a childhood dream of just having a Halloween that was magical, like something from the movies.”
Project Power will be released globally on Friday, August 14 on Netflix.
