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Jamie Foxx is finally bringing Mike Tyson's story to the big screen.
Since the 2014 announcement that Foxx, now 52, would star in a biopic centered on the legendary boxer, the project has been tangled in the web of film development.
Now, according to Foxx himself, things are finally moving forward.
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The Oscar winner recently chatted with filmmaker Mark Birnbaum over Instagram Live, where he revealed that the project is underway.
"It's a definitive yes," Foxx said. "Doing biographies is a tough thing. Sometimes it takes 20 years to get them done, but we officially got the real ball rolling."
Jamie Foxx (left) and Mike Tyson. (Getty/Reuters)
The "Ray" star added that he "can't wait" to share the story before diving into the story of how he met Tyson, now 53.
"I met Mike Tyson in the weirdest way, I was on stage doing stand-up years ago," Foxx recalled, noting he was about 22 years old at the time. "I get to my Mike Tyson joke and nobody claps, nobody laughs. You know why? Because Mike Tyson was watching."
Foxx said that after the audience urged him to continue, a voice shouted out, "Yo, Mike said do the joke, but that s--t better be funny."
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So naturally, Foxx told his joke and received a standing ovation and personal praise from Tyson.
"So I started hanging out with Mike Tyson so I got to see Mike in two different ways, two different lives," the "Blame It" singer explained. "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 recalled another, more recent conversation he had with Tyson, in which the athlete confessed to being "happy" because he didn't have "vultures" in his life after he lost a great deal of his money.
Comedian, singer and actor Jamie Foxx will play Mike Tyson in an upcoming movie. (Steve Granitz/WireImage via Getty Images)
"That's the person that we want to show," said Foxx. "We want to show everybody evolves. Everybody comes from a good or bad place and 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 and the way we'll place it."
He also explained that a great deal of technology will go into making him look like Tyson.
"I guarantee you, people will run up on me in the street and ask for an autograph and think that I'm Mike," the actor said.
Of course, Foxx will have to physically prepare himself for the role as well, which includes a routine of 60 pull-ups, 60 dips and 100 push-ups every other day.
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Ever the chameleon, Foxx also demonstrated his impression of the athlete several times.
Finally, the multi-hyphenate showed off a few snaps of himself amid his physical transformation, proving that he's building plenty of muscle to inhabit the role.
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