Jamie Foxx Says Martin Scorsese is Directing Him in Mike Tyson Biopic

Last year, Django Unchained star Jamie Foxx was attached to play boxer Mike Tyson in a biopic written by Boardwalk Empire creator and The Wolf of Wall Street writer Terence Winter. That was back in August, and we haven't heard any concrete news about the project since then. Now, though, Foxx is saying that Martin Scorsese is going to be directing it, which is pretty big news.

Uproxx has the transcription from Foxx's recent appearance on Power 105's The Breakfast Club:

“I just went in with Paramount with Mike Tyson. So I’m going to do the Mike Tyson story. Listen, to be in the same room pitching Mike Tyson to Paramount, Mike Tyson is on one side, I’m on the other side and doing Mike Tyson at the same time. And Martin Scorsese at the helm. This will be the first boxing movie that Martin Scorsese has done since Raging Bull.”

Scorsese is obviously a master filmmaker, so I'm sure he'd bring something excellent to a biopic like this, but he's also a really busy guy, so I'm not sure when this project will actually start filming. But will they actually tackle the uglier side of Tyson's life, like that time he went to prison for rape, or when he bit off Holyfield's ear in the ring? People seem to forget about that stuff when they celebrate him being in movies like The Hangover. Foxx continued:

“[It's] the story of the guy who at 18 years old had $60 million in his pocket and everybody’s trying to get and now the grown guy who sits back and reflects on the whole thing, like, the money was the downfall.”

So it sounds like there's a bit of gravity to their version after all. I'm really hoping Scorsese doesn't shy away from the negative aspects of his life - when it comes to movies, there are few things worse than a biopic that feels like it's been nitpicked by its subject, because then there's no objective truth to it.

Are you looking forward to seeing Scorsese team up with Foxx for a Tyson biopic?