“I want to be the first black man with a comb-over”: Jamie Foxx Chose Electro’s Look Based on How He’d Look Like If He ‘Never Made It’ in Hollywood

Iconic star Jamie Foxx talked about his look in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and why he chose to rock that particular hairstyle in the movie.

Several actors fit so well in a particular role that it feels like they were born to portray that character. Take Jamie Foxx, for example. The actor was born for the role of Django in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.

However, another role for which Jamie Foxx didn’t get appreciated enough was his antagonistic portrayal of Max Dillon/Electro in the 2014 film The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained (2012) | Credits: A Band Apart

Jamie Foxx was meant to portray the role of Electro

Call it fate or bad luck, but Jamie Foxx is indeed a good actor who went underappreciated when it came to his performance as Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Jamie Foxx in a still from Spider-Man: No Way Home | Credits: Marvel Studios

Before the world came to know and fear him as Electro, the character portrayed by Jamie Foxx was a humble electrical engineer (and a nerd according to Foxx) who simply wanted to get by in his own world.

When fate had the chance, Jamie Foxx’s character of Max Dillon, fell into a pool of electric eels. Thus, Electro was born, and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man had to fight Electro as well as the Green Goblin.

The decision to add two antagonists in a Spider-Man movie was also partly responsible for the way Jamie Foxx went unnoticed and underappreciated when the film was initially released back in 2014. Despite his screentime, Foxx was ready to go all out for the character of Electro.

According to what the actor had to say about portraying the character, Foxx talked about several things, including how his sister did an amazing job as her hairstylist.

What Jamie Foxx would have looked like without Hollywood

That’s not us saying that. That’s Jamie Foxx himself saying that if he wouldn’t have been able to make it big in Hollywood, he would have looked like Max Dillion from the 2014 film.

Foxx as Electro in a still from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Credits: Columbia Pictures

Foxx’s sister Deodra Dixon has been a personal hairstylist for the actor for quite a few years, and it was she who gave Jamie Foxx the iconic look in Django Unchained.

Talking about the almost banal hairstyle that Foxx had when he was portraying the role of Max Dillon, the actor revealed to Collider that there was a very specific reason for it.

When I’m the nerd guy [Max Dillon], I want to be the first black man with a comb-over. I told her, ‘Make me look like I would look if I never made it [in Hollywood].

Well, it seemed to work like a charm since the world truly felt sorry for the little man who was getting ignored by the world until he became… Electro.

Foxx’s performance was given a rough treatment, but much like Andrew Garfield, his redemption as Electro came in the 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Fans will always remember the iconic hairstyle that Max Dillon had on his head before becoming Electro, and it’s all thanks to Jamie Foxx and his sister.

Released in 2014, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 currently stands at a rating of 6.6/10 on IMDb and 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is available to stream on Disney+.