Mike Tyson’s mercurial, controversial, sad and accomplished life will be played out on the big screen in the near future, with none other than actor-comedian Jamie Foxx playing the role of the youngest heavyweight champion who spent time in prison for rape, had a public marriage and divorce with actor Robin Givens, and who squandered up to $300 million.
Tyson, during an interview with IGN Entertainment, said the 46-year Foxx has agreed to portray him. CGI animation technology will allow Foxx to play the younger Tyson in the movie.
According to Variety magazine, the movie is in development under Foxx’s manager Rick Yorn, who will produce the film.
Terence Winter, whose screenplay credits include the movie, The Wolf of Wall Street and episodes of television series The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, will write the script, Variety reported, citing anonymous sources.
Foxx, who won an Oscar for his 2004 portrayal of singer Ray Charles, has flourished in movies with sports themes. In 2001’s Ali, he played Muhammad Ali’s corner man Dwight “Bundini” Brown. He also played quarterback Willie Beamen in Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday in 1999.
For Tyson, the movie would follow other recent efforts that have told his life story.
An autobiography titled Undisputed Truth was released late last year, and he appeared in August 2012 for a limited run on Broadway in a one-man show directed by Spike Lee.
Foxx has panned Tyson on stage and on television, delivering an uncanny semblance to the 48-year-old Tyson’s high-pitched voice.