Jamie Foxx is Set to Play Mike Tyson in an Upcoming Biopic and Reveals He Met the Former Champ in the ‘Weirdest Way’
Just like his idol, Muhammad Ali, former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is getting his own biopic, which will feature Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx in the lead role. The film was first announced back in 2014 but various setbacks (as it goes in the film industry) have kept it from getting off the ground. But Foxx recently announced that the project is finally underway and that he “can’t wait” for Iron Mike’s story to be told on the big screen, also sharing the hilarious story of the first time he met Tyson.
Jamie Foxx ‘can’t wait’ to tell the story of Mike Tyson
It’s not often that an actor would stick with a project for as long as Jamie Foxx has stuck with the Mike Tyson biopic. But the former “In Living Color” cast member has been determined to see this project through and is extremely excited that it’s finally moving forward, as he revealed in a recent Instagram Live conversation with filmmaker Mark Birnbaum. He says the film will not only show Mike Tyson in his prime years but will also dive into the controversies surrounding the former champ’s life, including his rape conviction, losing his fortune, and his career resurrection.
“Doing biographies is a tough thing. Sometimes it takes 20 years to get them done, but we officially got the real ball rolling.
“So I started hanging out with Mike Tyson so I got to see Mike in two different ways, two different lives. I saw him at the height of his career and then when things got bad, things got bumpy, I also saw him as well, so what I’m excited about the movie is to show those moments of the different Mike.
“We want to show everybody evolves. Everybody comes from a good or bad place and I think when we lay the layers on Mike Tyson in this story, I think everybody from young and old will be able to understand this man’s journey and the way we’ll place it.”
Jamie Foxx
Naturally, to play Mike Tyson in his prime fighting years, Jamie Foxx, who’s now 52 old, has to look the part and he’s certainly getting himself ready for that.
The Oscar winner is getting crazy jacked to play Iron Mike
Jamie Foxx has long been a person that keeps himself in good shape. But getting ready to play Iron Mike takes a little something extra and the Oscar winner has committed himself to it. Foxx revealed in the Instagram Live chat that he has a workout regimen that includes 100 pushups, 60 pullups, and 60 dips. He then revealed his upper body to the camera, which now has social media in a frenzy, but says that he’ll have to go a different route below the waist.
“I ain’t got no calf muscles, so we might have to get some prosthetics for that.”
Jamie Foxx
Foxx says he expects to start shooting weighing about 216 pounds to play young Mike and will then pack on 10 to 15 pounds to play the former champ in his later years.
Jamie Foxx says he first met Mike Tyson in the ‘weirdest way’
Jamie Foxx told numerous stories of conversing with Iron Mike over the years but the best was when he described how he first met the man he’ll portray on the big screen. Foxx, who’s long done Tyson voice impressions, began his entertainment career as a standup comedian and told a hilarious story from three decades ago in which Tyson was in the audience at one of his shows.
“I met Mike Tyson in the weirdest way, I was on stage doing standup years ago. I get to my Mike Tyson joke and nobody claps, nobody laughs. You know why? Because Mike Tyson was watching.”
Jamie Foxx on the first time he met Mike Tyson
Foxx then paused during the bit but then heard someone in Tyson’s entourage yell at him.
“Yo, Mike said do the joke, but that s–t better be funny.”
Jamie Foxx on what he heard from the crowd the night he met Mike Tyson
The joke must have lived up to Mike Tyson’s standards as he joined in with the rest of the audience in giving Jamie Foxx a standing ovation.
No release date has yet been set for the biopic but given the story of Mike Tyson and the insane talent of Jamie Foxx, it can’t come soon enough.
