Cannes ‘08: Kenneth Turan talks ‘Tyson’ with James Toback
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Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has seen lots of tumult in his day, but, says James Toback, he was taken aback by the intense crowd reaction to the director’s vivid biopic ‘Tyson’ when it was screened at Cannes on Friday night: ‘He turned to me and said, ‘I’ve never experienced anything like this,’ the spectacle was so overwhelming.’
Toback, who financed the film himself (‘I’ve done worse things with my money’) said at a press lunch Saturday that he was compelled to do the film about a man he’s known for 23 years because ‘there is an ongoing sense of drama about him. He is a man of contradictions and complexities, able to surprise you moment by moment.’
Toback said he was particularly compelled by Tyson’s ‘balance of fragility and rage.’ Most remarkable was the chance to ‘see it on display, to see him choke up and break down when talking about his youth, and this from somebody known for homicidal rage.’
The director said that seeing the film was probably difficult for Tyson because ‘he looks back on his past not as a prelude to the present. The film could almost be a documentary about a stranger, someone he no longer has any connection to.’
When Toback showed it to Tyson in a screening room, ‘he was silent for above five minutes and then he said, ‘It’s like a Greek tragedy. The only problem is that I’m the subject.’ ‘
-- Kenneth Turan
