Hollywood star Jamie Foxx has revealed his plan as the Oscar winner prepares to play Mike Tyson in a forthcoming biopic of the boxer.
Foxx takes on the role, having successfully played Ray Charles to Academy Award-winning acknowledgment in 2004.
Signing up a while ago, it’s taken considerable time to get filming lined up. Foxx had piled on considerable weight. But with shooting on the horizon, coronavirus struck.
With a contemplation spell at his disposal, Foxx has done the interview rounds to outline his blueprint.
Jamie Foxx
One of those was alongside Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on Showtime’s ‘All the Smoke’. Foxx discussed the role in candid fashion.
The chat comes on the back of an Instagram chat as anticipation surrounds the eventual continuation of production.
“When we were talking about the movie, I said what’s interesting about Mike is not the ring now, it’s the Mike that we see now,” Foxx said.
“When I called Mike one time, I said ‘Mike, how are you doing?’ – And it’s this voice ‘All praise to Allah, my brother I’m just happy’.
“I said ‘why you happy?’ and ‘I’m happy I don’t have money anymore, I don’t have any money’.
“I said ‘why do you say that? Why does that make you happy?’
“‘Cause no one can take anything from me anymore. There are no vultures. Nobody out there trying to take anything from me. So I’m just happy.’
“I said ‘that’s the person we’ve got to show’. He’ll tell you ‘I either live on top of the mountain or on the bottom of the ocean’.
“I said to Mike ‘when I play you, I’m going to embody you so well that when I walk into your house your kids will run up and say dad’s home.”
MARTIN SCORSESE and MIKE TYSON
On securing a superb director for the movie, Foxx added: “Martin Scorsese who hasn’t done a boxing film since Raging Bull has agreed to take on the helm.
“We want to show everybody evolves. Everybody comes from a good or bad place.
“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.”
Tyson is in the midst of a boxing comeback at the age of 54. There’s no indication yet as to whether this will eventually be incorporated into the film.
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