Jamie Foxx is muscling up for Mike Tyson biopic

Some people are spending quarantine eating chips and freshly baked bread, others are going for daily jogs. And then there’s Jamie Foxx, who has undergone a complete upper body transformation in order to play Mike Tyson in an upcoming biopic of the boxer’s life.The 52-year-old gave fans a sneak preview of his new physique while confirming the movie during a chat on the Instagram Live series Catching Up with Mark Birnbaum, which was posted on June 18. “Look, doing biographies is a tough thing,” he said. “Sometimes it takes 20 years to get them done. But we officially got the ball rolling.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

The greatest of our generation for the hour Jamie Foxx

A post shared by Mark Birnbaum (@markbirnbaum) on Jun 17, 2020 at 4:30pm PDT

In speaking with the host about the film (skip to the 53-minute mark in the video above), Foxx revealed that he’s been bulking up to play the heavyweight champ. For him that means doing a workout routine every other day that includes 60 pull-ups, 60 dips and 100 pushups. In other words, arms, arms, and more arms. Maybe that’s why the actor joked that he might get a little help with the lower half of his body. “I ain’t got no calf muscles, so we might have to get some prosthetics for that,” Foxx said.[video_embed id='-1']RELATED: Jamie Foxx used to 'stalk' celebrities[/video_embed]“I guarantee you, people will run up on me in the street and ask for an autograph and think that I’m Mike,” he added.During the conversation Foxx also revealed that he and Tyson became friends decades ago, when Foxx was 22 years old and doing stand-up. At the time he did an impression of the boxer not realizing that he was in the audience, and they struck up a friendship following the set. Foxx is aware that the man has had some pretty big ups and downs over his career and throughout his personal life, but he noted that in recent years Tyson has bounced back. And that’s the side of him that Foxx hopes will come across in the film. “We want to show everybody evolves,” Foxx added. “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.”Although Tyson shot to international stardom thanks to his boxing skills, he became a controversial topic in the early 1990s after his wife at the time, Robin Givens, filed for divorce and alleged spousal abuse. A year later Tyson was accused of raping Miss Black Rhode Island, Desiree Washington, in his hotel room in Indianapolis. Tyson was found guilty and served three years in prison following a controversial ruling that stirred up conversations about consent, date rape, and the inequity Black male defendants face in America’s criminal justice system.That isn’t the only time the personality has been in legal trouble though—his rap sheet is actually quite long. Over the years Tyson has also faced several other allegations of abuse, he has been involved in public car and motorcycle accidents, and he has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after owing $38 million to the IRS.In 2014 when Tyson was in Toronto promoting his one-man show, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth, he became friends with then-mayor Rob Ford. Later, CP24’s Nathan Downer asked Tyson what kind of a negative effect he thought a “convicted rapist” could have on Ford’s re-election campaign. Tyson responded by going on a profanity-laced tirade on live television.“I got to see Mike in two different ways, two different lives,” Foxx told Birnbaum. “I saw him at the height of his career and then when things got bad, things got bumpy, I also saw him as well, so what I’m excited about the movie is to show those moments of the different Mike.”Foxx portraying Tyson may come with a potential side of controversy, but the actor is no stranger to helming iconic roles. In 2004 Foxx played musician Ray Charles and won the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.[video_embed id='1974045']BEFORE YOU GO: Chris Cuomo accidently bares it all on his wife’s Instagram live[/video_embed]