Jamie Foxx Will Play Mike Tyson In A Script Written By Terence Winter

That’s the most good news I’ve typed in a headline since I started writing for Filmdrunk, although I hope to one day write “Jessica Alba Invites Matt Lieb To Orgy & Pizza Party At Raging Waters For Dwayne Johnson’s Inauguration.” But while I eagerly await The Rock’s transformation into a real-life President Camacho (and my eventual water slide orgy), I can report some more current news that has me almost equally as excited for the future. According to Variety, Jamie Foxx (actor/comedian/musician/black Robert Downey Jr.) is attached to play Mike Tyson in an upcoming biopic. And the script is set to be written by Terrence Winter (“Wolf of Wall Street,” “Sopranos,” “Boardwalk Empire.”)

Sources tell Variety that Foxx is attached to play Mike Tyson in an untitled biopic that Terence Winter is set to pen. Rick Yorn, who is Foxx’s manager, is shepherding the project and will produce.

The package is still coming together and is currently without a studio, but once the final details are ironed out and it is presented to the market, it shouldn’t be hard to interest a distributor.

As one of the most polarizing figures in sports, producers are eager to tackle Tyson’s life story. Known for the power and ferocity he displayed in the ring, Tyson became not just the top boxer at the end of the ’80s but one of the most popular sports figures, with a rough around-the-edges personality he displayed both in and out of the ring.

Jamie Foxx is probably the second most versatile actor of our generation (number one being Robert Downey Jr, because Jamie Foxx mostly plays black people, while RDJ… well, you know), so I have no doubt that he’s going to absolutely crush this role. But the Terence Winter penned script is what really puts blood in my boner. Winter, who wrote ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’ and ‘The Sopranos’ (specifically the “Pine Barrens” episode where Pauly and Christopher get lost in the woods and almost freeze/starve to death), is no stranger to writing complicated characters who move manically along the entire range of the emotional spectrum. Although, Tyson is so complicated that he makes Shaft look like his theme should’ve been sung by Avril Lavigne (GET STONED AND WATCH THIS!) But I have a feeling Terence Winter is up for the task. Let’s just hope it’s more ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ and less ‘Get Rich Or Die Tryin.’

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