By Jim Maltzman: Former Oscar-winning actor and comedian Jamie Foxx took to social media this week to discuss his preparation for his role as playing Mike Tyson in a movie on his life. The 54-year-old Foxx is bulking up to play the 52-year-old Tyson, and his goal is to weigh 216 pounds by the time the movie shots.
Foxx views the muscle-building part as one of the more challenging aspects of playing the role of the former IBF/WBA/WBC heavyweight champion ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson. For fans to believe in Foxx’s portrayal of Tyson, he’s got to look as much like him as possible.
Foxx can imitate the way Tyson speaks almost entirely, but he doesn’t possess his stocky physique or his muscular legs. Foxx says they’ll be using prosthetics for his legs because he won’t be able to add enough muscle to look the part from the waist down.
Jamie Foxx remembers meeting Tyson
“We officially got the ball rolling, and I can’t wait to show people what it is,” said Foxx to Mark Birnhaum about him playing Mike Tyson in a movie on his life. “I met Mike Tyson in the weirdest way. I met him on stage when I was doing standup years ago, and I was about 22.
“When I got to my Mike Tyson joke, Nobody clapped, and Nobody laughed. You want to know why? Because Mike was there. A dude yelled out, ‘Mike is in here,’ and I was like ‘Oh s***.’ A black girl was in there and said, ‘What are you going to do, Jamie? Are you scared?’ And then a dude yelled out, ‘Mike said, do the joke, but that s*** better be funny.’
“I started hanging out with Mike, and I got to see him at the height of his career. And then when things got bad and bumpy, I saw him as well. What I’m excited about in the movie is to show those different moments,” said Foxx.
It’s taken a while to get the Mike Tyson movie off the ground, seeing that it was first talked about six years ago in 2014. That would have been a better time for Foxx to film the movie because he was younger then.
Right now, it’s going to be difficult for Foxx to portray the younger Mike Tyson due to his age. Foxx doesn’t look like a person in their 20s or even their 30s. Foxx will be to pull off looking like Tyson right now, but it’s going to be a significant obstacle for him to look like he’s in his 20s.
Tyson’s prime was in his 20s, and you would assume that would be where a significant portion of the movie would be centered around.
Foxx to bulk up to 216 pounds
“When I called Mike a couple of years ago, I said, ‘How are you doing?’ ‘I’m happy.’ ‘Why are you happy?’ ‘Because I don’t have crazy amounts of money right now, and I don’t have vultures around,'” said Foxx in recalling what Tyson told to him.
“‘Nobody can take anything from me, so I’m just happy. How are you, brother?’ And I thought, that’s the person we want to show. Just the technology of how I’m going to be 216 pounds when we shoot, and then we’ll balloon to 225 to 230, which will look like 250 on-screen.
“We’re on our way. Once that happens, then we’ll start to add on what he is and who he is, the way he orders his food and what he cares about. I think that’s what will make the movie go,” said Foxx.
To add muscle, Foxx is doing pullups, pushups, and bar dips daily to get ready for the Tyson role.
With still no date for the filming to begin for the movie, hopefully, it doesn’t fall through for Foxx. He seems pretty excited at doing the picture, and it’ll be interesting to see Foxx pull it up.