He’s going to play Cus D’Amato.
Mike Tyson has been the subject of several movies. There is the 1995 HBO movie Tyson, starring Michael Jai White. Then there is the great documentary also called Tyson where Iron Mike himself tells his own story direct to the camera. And for years, Jamie Foxx has been tapped to play Tyson in a biopic, possibly directed by Martin Scorsese.
That particular project seems to be in development hell. But there is now another Tyson film in the works, with a very big name attached. Bruce Willis is set to take the lead in Cornerman, a film about Tyson’s legendary trainer Cus D’Amato. D’Amato previously handled the careers of Floyd Patterson, and José Torres, but had fallen into obscurity by the mid 1980s.
It was then however that he discovered a 13 year old Mike Tyson, and adopted him after his mother died. As the legend goes, D’Amato was the rock that Tyson has lacked throughout his life, and helped form the boxer that would go on to dominate the world. But D’Amato would not see Tyson’s glory, dying a year before Tyson would become the youngest world heavyweight champion in history.
Cornerman is going to be directed Homeland star Rupert Friend, who previously helmed the 2010 short Steve, starring Keira Knightley and Colin Firth.
