Jamie Foxx has reassured fans his Mike Tyson biopic is headed toward production. And he's got the muscles to prove it.
The Oscar-winning actor shared an update on the long-awaited film during an appearance on Mark Birnbaum's Catching Up Instagram Live series. The host said he had received conflicting reports about the project's development, stating Tyson was confident it would eventually happen, while Foxx previously expressed doubt.
"Can you just give me the definitive yes?" Birnbaum asked at around the 52:30-minute mark.
"It's a definitive yes," Foxx said, before explaining the years-long delay. "Look, doing biographies is a tough thing. Sometimes it takes 20 years to get them done. But we officially got the real ball rolling. And I can't wait to show people what it is ... What I'm excited about the movie is to show those moments of the different Mikes ... Everybody evolves. Everybody comes from a good or a bad place. And 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."
Foxx said he was now working on changing his physique, and laid out his current exercise regimen.
"Every other day, I do 60 pull-ups, we do 60 dips, we do 100 push-ups," he said "... It's changing the body. Top half. I ain’t got no calf muscles, so we're gonna have to get some prosthetics for that ... In changing the body, we will be 216 pounds when we shoot and balloon to to 225-230, which will look like 250 on screen."
The actor then pulled out his phone to show photos of his impressive progress (56-minute mark). Check out the full interview below.
Fans have been waiting for the Tyson biopic for more than a decade, when the boxing legend publicly announced it would be a collaborative effort between him and Foxx.
"I have a movie on the verge of happening, probably in two years from now," Tyson told Slashfilm in 2008. "Me and Jamie Foxx are going to do a collaboration. He’s going to play me in my life story. We’ve talked about it many times."
Though it seems the wait is almost over, there are a lot of uncertainties looming over the film industry, which has essentially stalled due to the global health crisis. All we can do now is wait and see.
