A version of this story appears in the First Look issue ofEntertainment Weekly, on newsstands now oravailable here.

And definitely no guys in tights running around swashbuckling.

It was fantastic, and that was enough to convince me.

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Credit: Larry Horricks/Lionsgate

I aint gonna be outdoing him, he admits.

That performance is a delightful tour de force, and I knew and loved the man.

But I get a kick out of [sharing it], and I think he would have too.

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Attila Szvacsek/Lionsgate

Foxx, for one, is already a Mendelsohn superfan: Hes venomous.

There are some people that can just whup your ass.

Him, Samuel Jackson, Viola Davis: ass whuppers.

I wanted to be part of it because itshood, not Robin Hood.

Hes making it new and interesting, and it gives it weight.

Lets just call them jeggings now.