This year marks the 20th anniversary of Ray, the highly regarded biopic that details the life of rhythm and blues icon Ray Charles. Singer, comedian, and actor Jamie Foxx delivers an incredible performance that cast a light on him as one of the best actors in the business.
Foxx would go one to make history as the third Black man to ever win an Oscar for Best Leading Actor, with Sidney Poitier being the first for Lilies of the Field, followed by Denzel Washington for Training Day. While the film also won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing, it was Foxx that cleaned up at award shows like the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Screen Actors Guild, Critic’s Choice, and many more. Directed by Taylor Hackford (Blood In, Blood Out), the film has a star-studded cast that features Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell, Larenz Tate, Harry Lenix, and Bokeem Woodbine.
Many had originally known Foxx as a funny guy from In Living Color and later snagging his own TV show, The Jamie Foxx Show, which was quite popular, especially among the Black community. He had long been known as a king of impressions, and it paid off for him soon enough. The movie was on a much bigger scale as it gave the Texas-born actor a mainstream platform to thrive on in front of the world. Ironically and to Hackford’s surprise, he already knew how to play piano as he landed a scholarship to play when he was in college. It was a role of a lifetime, as it propelled Foxx into conversations about his amazing talent and how much he really poured into mirroring Charles through and through.
Foxx was committed to truly embodying the legend, even going as far as learning piano and spending many hours practicing his mannerisms and voice. In addition, he lost weight, learned Braille, and wore eyepieces for a set number of hours per day to imitate the darkness of being blind.
Foxx met with Charles in 2002 when he was initially cast in the film. During an interview with Michael Strahan, he shared some quotes from the icon. Charles told him, “If you can play the blues man, you can do anything. … Life is notes underneath your fingers, man. You gotta take the time to play the right notes, baby.” In a tragic turn of events, the musical genius passed away of liver disease only four months before Ray was released in theaters October 29, 2004.
Foxx is a master of his craft as he seamlessly conveys the good and the bad of Charles’ life. From his rise to fame, difficulties dealing with blindness, troubled relationships, and addiction, he got it down to a T while giving such a convincing portrayal. One of the beautiful things about Ray is that it doesn’t try to be a pristine biopic that glosses over the negative. Instead, it showcases the barriers that Charles had to face through his long and successful career. The movie also introduced the musician to new generations for those who may not have been all that familiar with his music and what he had to overcome to rise to the top.
Charles’ story is set to his original music and visually depicted through Foxx recreating some notable performances. The attention to detail and overall level of importance the creative team put into making Ray as authentic as possible heavily contributed to it being one of the greatest biopics to ever be made. Set to some of his biggest hits like “Georgia on My Mind,” “What’d I Say,” and “Hit the Road Jack,” the film paints an astonishingly beautiful picture of how revolutionary and influential Charles’ music really is. Luckily, before he passed away, Charles was able to sit through an early version of the film as he was tasked with providing vocals for the production. Foxx shared, “We got a chance to show him the movie… he viewed it in his own way, just before he passed. It was a blessed experience.”
Twenty years later, Ray is still considered to have set the bar extremely high for any future directors that want to take a stab at that music legend biopic. In a sea full of biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis, and Rocketman, this one still reigns supreme after all this time. It’s a powerful story of one man’s perseverance and resilience through many struggles all while he navigated the music industry in the 1950s and 1960s. His compelling legacy is forever cemented and his style and tune is often imitated, but never duplicated.
Foxx’s portrayal was a pivotal move in his career, as he has earned the right to be spoken about amongst some of the greatest actors of his generation. What makes it a full circle moment is that Foxx got the seal of approval to play the icon, with Charles saying: “The kid’s got it.”