Jamie Foxx is turning vigilante – and Gerry Butler is in his sights.
Foxx is in final negotiations to join the cast of Frank Darabont’s psychological thriller, Law Abiding Citizen.
He would play a grief-stricken husband who decides to take his revenge on the killers who murdered his wife and daughter. But, in a twist on the standard vigilante format, he also targets the successful Assistant D.A. (Butler) who arranged a plea bargain that allowed one of the killers to walk.
So, we’re very much dealing with shades of grey here. It would be easy for Butler’s character to be the clear-cut hero while Foxx is the demented bad guy out to get him, but with Darabont at the helm, we’re confident that it won’t be quite that easy.
Certainly, Butler’s A.D.A. will have issues of guilt to contend with, while Foxx might well be the kind of layered antagonist so rare in Hollywood thrillers. The title, we’d wager, will apply to both men and, simultaneously, neither.
Having said that, it’ll also be fun to see Foxx on the other side of the fence for a change. And his casting bolsters the film’s commercial appeal, which can’t hurt this independent production (it’s backed, not by a major studio, but by the Film Department).
Law Abiding Citizen, which is written by Darabont and original scribe Kurt Wimmer, is also produced by Butler, through his Evil Twin production company. We’re looking forward to this one – Darabont’s a fantastic director (and in danger of becoming prolific, following The Mist so quickly with this), and the pairing of Foxx and Butler should generate fireworks.