Event Description : Foxx received his first bit of Oscar buzz for his performance in Ali, although he was passed over for a nomination. He did, however, catch the attention of director Taylor Hackford (1944–), who was casting for his upcoming movie, Ray, an in-depth look into the life of legendary musician Ray Charles (1930–2004). The movie was a labor of love for Hackford, who had spent fifteen years working on the script and trying to find backers for the project. When he finally got the green light, the director needed just the right man for the lead. He found that man in Jamie Foxx. "I thought, this guy's got talent," Hackford told Josh Young of Variety. "I don't know whether he can carry a whole movie. I wouldn't know until we worked together, but he had the potential. He had the look, and once I realized he was a consummate musician, I never went anywhere else."
Foxx threw himself into the role, methodically preparing for months to fill Brother Ray's shoes. He dropped thirty pounds to achieve a lean look, worked at mastering Charles's keyboard technique, talked to the musician's family and close friends, and watched hours of videotaped interviews. "I used that as the DNA [genetic building block] to get the young Ray as we moved through the film," Foxx explained to Aldore Collier of Ebony. "It was just taking him, studying him and then crushing it down to where it's not an impersonation, but the nuances, how he talked to his kids, how he talked to his wife." One of the most difficult hurdles was effectively portraying a man who had been blind since the age of seven. Foxx practiced being blind by gluing his eyes shut and during the entire filming of the movie he wore a prosthetic device over his eyes, which really did render him blind for up to fourteen hours a day.
Perhaps the biggest thrill for Foxx came when he got the chance to spend some one-on-one time with Charles, who died just four months before the movie's October 2004 release. The two jammed together on the piano for almost an hour, and Foxx described the experience as incredible. By the end of the meeting Ray Charles had given his blessing to the film. According to the film's producer, Stuart Benjamin, who spoke with Clarissa Cruz of Entertainment Weekly, "It was a complete lovefest. Ray really, really embraced Jamie. He was comfortable that Jamie had the musical chops."
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