Jamie Foxx has just recently called the radio show TheBreakfastClub and told everyone that he’s going to be in a Tyson biopic for Paramount, directed by Martin Scorsese. And we’re not talking Neil deGrasse Tyson or Tyson Beckford, it’s about the one and only Mike Tyson. Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Terence Winter, who worked with Scorsese on The Wolf of Wall Street and Boardwalk Empire, is writing the script.
It’s easy to see why a heavyweight like Scorsese would be interested in telling Tyson’s story. Tyson had the Rocky rise of fame, coming from a poor high-crime neighborhood and rising to become one of sport’s most lucrative stars. But of course Tyson was never just a nice doofus like Balboa, he always had a dark, problematic side to him. Several drug addictions, a rape allegation and the following conviction tainted his image and the moment he bit off pieces of Evander Holyfield’s ear during a bout, he became one of sport’s most controversial and darkest figures.
And there’s the Hollywood comeback. Tyson never managed to return to the ring in glory, but he crafted himself a reborn personality that is seemingly universally liked and always in the press. Foxx also said that Tyson himself is part of the project, so it’ll be really interesting to see how he’ll be portrayed and what they make of ‘that night’ with Miss Black Rhode Island.