Currently in Taiwan lensing his long-term passion project Silence, Martin Scorsese has his next feature already lined up. According to an interview with Jamie Foxx, The Wolf Of Wall Street helmer is reportedly on board to direct him in the untitled Mike Tyson biopic that’s been bubbling away for the last few years.
Scorsese has been tentatively linked to the film previously, and if Foxx’s comments on Power 105’s The Breakfast Club (via Uproxx) are to be believed, he’s all in:
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.”
One name Foxx didn’t mention was that of writer Terence Winter. Winter has an established working relationship with Scorsese, after scripting Wolf and several episodes of his HBO series Boardwalk Empire. His name surfaced in connection with the Tyson project last year as well, and it’s believed he is still sculpting the screenplay.
Speaking of content, Foxx went on to describe the story and perspective the movie is hoping to achieve. In his words, it will be “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.”
If there’s one genre of biopic Scorsese is experienced in producing, it’s the “rise to fame, followed by a sudden fall from fame” style of storytelling. While Foxx goes on in the interview to reveal that he has already bulked up to play the infamous boxer for a series of test shots, there’s no confirmation from the director’s camp. Will we see the Mike Tyson movie emerge as Scorsese’s next? Watch this space.