CG Magic Will Allow Jamie Foxx To Play Young Mike Tyson

It is inevitable that Mike Tyson would punch his way to the big screen. Too bad the delivery method won't be a film based on Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (hey, it could happen) but a standard biopic will probably draw a crowd, too. Now just such a project is under way, and Jamie Foxx is set to play Tyson. The movie is in early stages of development; there's not even a script. But Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire, The Wolf of Wall Street) is set to script. And because Foxx's manager Rick Yorn is producing the film, we can expect that Foxx will stick around through the development process.

Variety reports some details, but the news first came from Tyson himself. The boxer told the Daily Mirror,

Within a year to 18 months, we're going to do the Mike Tyson story and he's going to portray me, and now they have this new animation; because you know Jamie's pretty much my age so he can't portray me but they have this new system.

That "new system" is a CG animation setup akin to what was used to age Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button. So Foxx will be aged up and down to play Tyson at various points in his life.

Tyson says the actor has asked Tyson to train him for the role. He also says that Martin Scorsese will be involved in the film, but that is likely as producer or consultant. Given that this development will take place while Scorsese is making Silence, don't expect more than that. And Scorsese has already put his stamp on boxing via Raging Bull. (Sure, he put his stamp on gangsters more than once, but let's not get too ahead of ourselves.)

We don't know if there's any particular book or document that will form the basis for the film. Since it seems like Tyson is heavily involved in the movie, there's also reason to wonder how this will play. Tyson's problems and failings are far too well-known for the film to avoid, but