Jamie Foxx recalls terrifying moment Mike Tyson threatened him 30 years before he plays boxer in TV biopic
Despite Jamie Foxx and Mike Tyson having been super tight for some time - with the sportsman previously crediting the actor as the perfect person to play him in the biographical drama about his life - the pair certainly weren't always the best of friends.
Speaking to LAD this week, 57-year-old Jamie not only lifted the lid on what fans should expect from his upcoming boxing biopic - all about the legacy of the sporting icon - but he recalled an incident that occurred 30 years ago, whereby Mike threatened him in front of hundreds of people.
For those out of the loop, actor Jamie's name was first mentioned in a potential Mike Tyson biographical drama - titled Finding Mike - all the way back in 2015.
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In the five years that followed, he undertook a vigorous exercise routine, hoping to get into a similar shape to the heavyweight champ and sharing regular snaps of his progress.
"He can do a great job I know that," Mike previously said of his pal. "I'm very grateful. I'm very excited about it."
Despite the pair being similar in age, it was understood that CGI would be used to help Jamie portray the athlete's younger years, - using 'what they did with Benjamin Button', Mike previously added.
As we say, however, the knockout specialist and the Django actor hadn't always boasted a smooth-sailing friendship, with their first run-in with one another - over three decades ago - seeing Jamie physically threatened by a member of Mike's team.
Asked by LAD about their history this week, father-of-two Jamie began: "I’ve known Mike for years, bro. I was doing stand-up comedy in 1988, and I’m killing in the hood.
"So, I’m in the club, I get to my Mike Tyson joke, nobody laughs, because Mike is in the audience.
"A dude [with Mike] yelled out, ‘Yo, Mike is in here’, and I was like, ‘Oh god’.
"There was a Black girl in the front, she was like, ‘What are you gonna do, Jamie? You scared of Mike?’. I said, ‘Chill!’, because Mike was just knocking people out for the sake of it."
Jamie went on to laugh: "So, the same dude yelled out, ‘Mike said to do the joke, but it better be funny’. So, the whole club goes from looking at Mike Tyson to looking at me.
"I get a standing ovation, I come off stage, Mike rushes over."
Doing an impression of the boxer, Jamie quotes Mike as saying: "'There he is, come here. You’re so crazy, I like how you talk up there, you’re gonna be great. You made me laugh, you didn’t make me angry because you know what I do when I get angry, so come with me'.
"So, I’m like, 'Where am I going?', and I end up riding around with Mike Tyson [in a] Lambo truck, and I was basically like his jester.
"He was like, 'Make me laugh', and I was like 'Knock, knock'. So, yeah, I’ve known him for a long time.
"The hardest thing is trying to do a story as a movie, and not do, this happened, then that happened, then that happened…".
While the filming of Finding Mike was stunted as a result of illness - with Jamie forced to take some time away from the entertainment industry following a stroke, which triggered a bleed on his brain - there is another project he's been working on.
Back In Action, starring Jamie and another of his long-time friends, Cameron Diaz, landed on Netflix today after mass anticipation.
The movie sees the pair - who previously starred in Annie the Musical together - portraying former CIA spies Emily and Matt, who give up their work after becoming parents.
Years later, with teen children, the pair are accidentally dredged back in to the world of espionage, with past enemies with hefty grudges
Years after giving up life as CIA spies to start a family, Emily and Matt find themselves dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown.
Revealing how he came to be involved in the new action-comedy, Jamie told press: "I was working on another project in Greece when this came to me.
"I thought it was a great premise and I humbly laid down at the feet of Cameron Diaz to ask, 'Would you just wave at your fans and come hang out and do this film with me?'. And she was gracious."
Back In Action is on Netflix 17th January.
Topics:Â Jamie Foxx, Mike Tyson, Celebrity, Film, TV and Film, Sport, US News
Rhianna Benson