Jeremy Renner has joined the cast of 'Spawn'.

The 47-year-old actor is to appear alongside fellow Hollywood star Jamie Foxx in the new comic book adaptation, which will mark Todd McFarlane directorial debut.

Jamie, 50, was cast as the movie's central character - who is a member of a CIA black ops team - back in May, and he's now been joined by Jeremy, who will play the role of Detective 'Twitch' Williams.

Looking forward to the project, Todd told Deadline: ''As a first-time director, I wanted to surround myself with the most talent and the most skilled people I can on all fronts.

''I was lucky enough to land [producer] Jason Blum and then Jamie Foxx, and I knew the person on screen the most is this police officer, 'Twitch' Williams. We needed as strong a person as possible because he will be the face of the film.

''I took my naive Hollywood approach again, and said let's start at the top and work down. Jeremy was at the top. I'm a huge fan of his.''

Todd felt Jeremy was perfectly suited to the part, having seen him perform similar roles earlier in his career.

He shared: ''The character doesn't need to be a bodybuilder or GQ handsome. I was looking for somebody who's a person you've met before; I needed someone who can pull off the grief of an average human being.

''I've seen Jeremy do that in more than a few of his movies. He was at the top of my list, just like Jamie.''