Nairobi News

ChillaxWhat's Hot

Jamie Foxx to play Mike Tyson in new biographical movie


Award winning actor Eric Marlon Bishop, internationally known as Jamie Foxx, is set to play former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson in a biopic of the legendary boxer.

Foxx is no stranger to playing real-life figures – his portrayal of Ray Charles in 2004’s Ray bagged him a Best Actor Oscar award.

The former world heavyweight champion appeared to confirm once again that Foxx would play him in the upcoming movie, which has been in the pipeline for a while.

According to a Slashfilm post in 2008, Tyson appears to have been developing this idea for some time.

“I have a movie on the verge of happening, probably in two years from now,” Tyson said at the time. “Me and Jamie Foxx are going to do a collaboration. He’s going to play me in my life story. We’ve talked about it many times.”

LIFE STORY

Tyson spoke on it again in 2009, saying “It’s gonna’ be about me. It’s gonna’ be Jamie Foxx portraying me in a life story… I don’t know who might direct. Jamie discussed the things he wanted to do. He didn’t know which way he wanted to go, but it was something he wanted to do. He told me not to tell anybody too much. He’s just interested in doing it.”

An insider told The Sun newspaper that Foxx went to a couple of sessions with his trainer in the gym for this movie.

Foxx himself revived rumours of the movie earlier this year after a few years of silence, telling ScreenRant that it is “a go”. He also confirmed that Martin Scorsese was still involved, adding: “Yeah, he’s attached, and it’s… Mike Tyson’s life is one of the most amazing American stories.”

The project was originally announced back in 2014 and is said to chronicle Tyson’s life at different stages of his career. The boxer, whose career was blighted by numerous controversies, said at the time that Foxx had asked him for boxing lessons and that Scorsese was attached.

Looking forward to the new movie, Tyson recently said: “A lot of people aren’t going to like the things I’ve done in my life.”