Oh Hell Yeah — Jamie Foxx Is Set To Play Mike Tyson In A Biopic

Wally Bryton7 years ago

It’s official: renaissance man Jamie Foxx is set to portray Mike Tyson in a biopic about the boxer’s controversial life. The Academy Award-winning actor is most known for playing “Ray Charles,” a fictional character created by Quentin Tarantino in the hit 2015 film Django Unchained. I’m in a rush, so I don’t have time to fact check that one.

Both Foxx and Tyson have been publicly discussing the upcoming film for a couple years now, but it looks like it’s finally confirmed to be going down. As many of you know, Tyson has had a storied career: he was the youngest heavyweight champion, he chomped Holyfield’s ear, he was given a new name by the leader of the Nation of Islam, and he refused to be drafted into the Vietnam War. Actually, some of those might be Muhammad Ali. Again, no time to fact check.

Anyone who has seen Tyson’s one-man show or read his memoir (or basically knows anything about him) knows he has a hell of a story that could be easily be made into an interesting film. As of right now, legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese is the director attached to the project. Scorsese is currently filming a mafia movie called The Irishman which stars Robert De Niro and will be released exclusively on Netflix. Yes, Martin Scorsese is directing a mafia movie that stars Robert De Niro. I’m shocked, too, but I’m glad he’s taking risks.

There’s no official word yet on a release date or even when filming begins, but it’s hard to not get excited about what sounds like an awesome movie. Best case scenario, it’s a masterpiece. Worst case scenario, we get to see Jamie Foxx do a Mike Tyson impression for 2 hours, which I’d still pay to see..

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