Jamie Foxx on transforming into Mike Tyson for upcoming biopic
The Oscar-winning star confessed he was eager to show people the 'different lives' of the iconic boxer
Hollywood actor Jamie Foxx is bulking up for his upcoming project which is a tribute and biopic of the legendary boxer Mike Tyson, reports People.
On Friday, the actor shared a series of photographs of himself sitting atop a short flight of stairs, showing off an impressive set of arm muscles. In the caption, he said the bulging biceps are part of his "transformation" into legendary boxer Mike Tyson for Finding Mike.
"A few months ago we started the journey. The first but biggest task is to transform the body with a regiment of pull-ups dips and push-ups. We are off to a pretty good start," wrote Foxx, 52.
"We have a ways to go but God willing."
He went on to relay that the day before this post, he shared early pictures of his transformation process on his friend's show. "Like I said we have a ways to go. But I am prepared to get there!" he added.
Many celebrities left supportive comments under his pictures. Justin Timberlake left a strong-arm and firecracker emoji, while former professional boxer Oscar De La Hoya wrote, "There couldn't have been a better actor/person to play the legend. Congratulations my man."
Foxx confirmed the film was in the works while on Mark Birnbaum's Instagram Live series Catching Up on Wednesday. Giving a "definitive yes" and saying, "Look, doing biographies is a tough thing. Sometimes it takes 20 years to get them done. But we officially got the real ball rolling."
The Oscar-winning star confessed he was eager to show the audiences the "different lives" of the iconic boxer. "We want to show everybody evolves," he said. "I think when we lay the layer of Mike Tyson in this story, I think everybody from young and old will be able to understand this man's journey."
On how he'd approach playing Tyson, Foxx said, "I guarantee you people will run up on me in the street, and ask for autographs, and think that I'm Mike." He continued, "Every other day, I do 60 pull-ups, we do 60 dips, we do 100 push-ups. I ain't got no calf muscles, so we might have to get some prosthetics for that."
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship offered Tyson, a 53-year-old former world heavyweight champion, a whopping $20 million last month to compete in a single fight for the organisation.
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