Jamie Foxx shuts down parts of Melbourne as he films first new movie since health scare

Hollywood star Jamie Foxx is currently in Australia, filming his new movie Deadlocked on the streets of Docklands and Port Melbourne.

It marks the 58-year-old’s first major new blockbuster since his severe medical emergency in April 2023, on the set of Back in Action alongside Cameron Diaz.

Foxx fronted the cameras in Melbourne on Wednesday, gushing about the warm welcome he’s received and the good food he’s already enjoyed.

“Looks like I’ve been beat up a little bit, but Melbourne has been amazing,” he said during a break from filming the action movie.

“Everyone’s been so welcoming and it really means a lot.

“I have gone to some of the best restaurants. I don’t think that I can say all the names, ’cause I’m trying to lay low.”

Local fans have already been out in force clambering to get close to the star, with the Academy Award winner obliging with some selfies.

The streets of Melbourne will double for New York City in the movie, with filming set to take place until November.

Deadlocked, which also stars Luke Hemsworth, will tell the story of an ex-marine on jury duty who is forced into action after the high-profile court case becomes the scene of a standoff.

“Without giving anything away the courthouse comes under siege [and] I have to exert myself, you know what I’m saying, to save the day,” Foxx said of the plot.

‘I don’t remember 20 days’

The Oscar-winning actor has released movies since his health scare but they were all filmed before the brain bleed that led to a stroke and left the star unable to walk.

“It is a mystery, we still don’t know exactly what happened to me,” he revealed in his Netflix special Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was.

“April 11, I was having a bad headache and I asked my boy for an aspirin. And I realised quickly that when you’re in a medical emergency, your boys don’t know what the f--- to do.

“Before I could get the aspirin I went out. I don’t remember 20 days.”

Doctors at Piedmont Hospital told Foxx would die without an operation, the actor said.

After the operation, doctors said while the actor might make a full recovery, “it’s going to be the worst year of his life”, he recounted in the streaming special.

Foxx described his recovery and rehabilitation as an “unexpected dark journey”, saying he “went to hell and back”.

After he was spotted at a Chicago rehab facility, which led to a range of online rumours about his health, Foxx released a video to dispel the myths.

“As you can see, the eyes are working, the eyes are working just fine,” he said.

“I’m not paralysed, but I went to hell and back, and my road to recovery had some potholes as well. But I’m coming back and I’m able to work.”

Following the incident on set in Atlanta that led to his hospitalisation, the actor disappeared from public view for months.

His friends and family also kept tight-lipped about what had happened to the actor during that time.

“I want you to see me laughing, having a good time, partying, cracking a joke, doing a movie, television show,” he later explained on social media.

“I didn’t want you to see me with tubes running out of me and trying to figure out if I was gonna make it through.”

Foxx credited his daughter and sister for saving his life.

"To them, to God, to a lot of great medical people, I'm able to leave you this video," he said.

Eight months later, at his first public appearance – accepting the Vanguard Award at the Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Cinema and Television: Honouring Black, Latino and AAPI Achievements – he said he “wouldn’t wish what I went through on my worst enemy”.