Jamie Foxx, who gave a convincing performance as Bundini Brown in Ali, will portray the former baddest man on the planet?
Mike Tyson: The Movie will soon be coming to a theater near you.
The idea of a Mike Tyson biopic has been tossed around for years. The narrative arc of his life, from dire poverty to immense riches, from being ignored to being worshipped, from having it all to having nothing, is the stuff of which biopics are made.
Jamie Foxx, who gave a convincing performance as Bundini Brown in Ali, will portray the former baddest man on the planet.
?I?ve known Mike since I was 21,? Foxx told HipHollywood.com. ?I asked Mike the other day how does he feel. And he said ?I?m happy because I don?t have any money.? I was like ?why you say that Mike?? He said ?ain?t nobody trying to take nothing from me. My life has always been in turmoil because of the money. All I wanted to do is be the heavyweight boxing champion of the world and fall in love with somebody.??
Aside from having Jamie Foxx as Tyson, there are several iconic roles yet to be filled. Kevin Spacey is rumored to be in the running to portray Cus D?Amato, but there?s no word on who might play Don King, Robin Givens, and a supporting cast of characters that is as long as a day?s journey into night.
Talking with the panelists on IGN.com, Mike?s enthusiasm about the project was infectious.
?Me and Jamie Foxx was in discussions,? he said, ?and within a year, eighteen months, we?re going to the Mike Tyson story and he?s going to portray me. Now they have this animation, because you know Jamie?s pretty much my age. You remember this movie Benjamin Button? They?re going to have that thing with Brad [Pitt] where they make him younger. I think they perfected it even better after Benjamin Button. This is going to be pretty interesting. I think Martin Scorsese is going to be involved in it as well. That?s what Jamie is discussing.?
Tyson also recently appeared on The Jim Norton Show. When the show?s host asked how svelte Jamie Foxx can portray muscular Mike Tyson, Mike said, facetiously one hopes, ?He?s going to do some steroids, eat pork, potatoes, and do all that stuff.?
If Jamie Foxx can do for Mike Tyson what he did for Ray Charles, this film will be something else.
