Jamie Foxx is looking to prove he's more than a master of impersonation by fully transforming his body to take on the role of former boxing champion Mike Tyson in a new biopic.
Foxx took to his Instagram page to show off the first stages of his workout transformation for the Mike Tyson biopic FINDING MIKE. The film has been in development for a very long time, with Foxx being attached to the project since at least 2014. After Foxx was announced to be attached to the biopic, news on the film stalled but with Foxx posting the start of his workout regimen, it seems like the project is back on track. The series of photos aren't exactly professional shots and just selfies taken by Foxx himself but you can get an idea of where things are headed. You can check out the Instagram post below:
Foxx explains in the post that the journey to get ready for this project started a few months ago with a regiment of pull-ups, dips, and push-ups. He acknowledges that there is a ways to go but he is 100 percent dedicated to getting where he needs to be to properly play the role. Imitating Tyson won't be a problem because Foxx has proven time and time again he has the voice and persona all set and ready to go. Transforming the body is a process, especially if they're aiming for Foxx to have Tyson's physique during his prime in the 1980s. They didn't call the guy "Iron" Mike for no good reason.
It will be interesting to see which aspects of Tyson's life they will explore because he has had one of the more infamous and interesting lives of anyone in the public eye. He grew up with nothing and paved his way to a great career by becoming a boxing champion and unified the WBC, WBA, and IBF boxing titles before he was 20 years old. Tyson's life took a turn when he spent three years in prison in the 1990s on a rape conviction and it's no secret that he lived a very volatile life. In recent years, Tyson has cleaned up his life and began to make a new name for himself after his cameo appearance in THE HANGOVER in 2009. The pivotal moment with that film put renewed interest back into Tyson and he has been pop culture mainstay ever since. He even has an adult animated television series called Mike Tyson Mysteries which has been on air since October of 2014.
At 52-years-old, Foxx is only a year younger than Tyson currently so I assume the film will deal mostly with the boxer's later life but it should be an intriguing biopic nonetheless. What do YOU think about Jamie Foxx taking on the life of Mike Tyson?