Bruce Willis To Play Mike Tyson's Trainer In Drama Cornerman

Bruce Willis is playing box flight simulator Constantine ' Cus ' D’Amato in the dramaCornerman . The picture show will take property in 1980s New York and explore how D’Amato - by then notable for train champion combatant like Floyd Patterson and José Torres - found and mentored succeeding heavyweight champion Mike Tyson ( who was only a teenager at the time ) . Cornerman will further attend as the lineament directing debut forHomelandandHitman : Agent 47star Rupert Friend , who will suck up from his own script .

Friend ’s pugilism drama is one of several high - visibility projects that will be demonstrate to likely outside electrical distributor when the 71st Cannes Film Festival begins tomorrow ( Tuesday , May 8) . Among the movie that will joinCornermanin the hunting for international angel are theall - distaff spy thriller355 , which is based on an idea from Jessica Chastain ( who is costarring);Leonard Bernstein biopicThe American , which Jake Gyllenhaal is headline and Cary Fukunaga is direct ; and theLiam Neeson - lead political thrillerCharlie Johnson in the Flames , based on the novel by Michael Ignatieff .

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fit in toVariety , CAA will handle the U.S. rights toCornermanwhile IMR International oversees sales to foreign territories at Cannes . The office of vernal Mike Tyson ( who will be 13 around the start of the film ) has not yet been barf , but the film is already localise to start production this pin . Friend , meanwhile , has issued the following statement regarding his visual modality for the film :

“ at long last , this is a story about a deep honey between two ferocious talents , each dauntless enough to hold their fears to the other , and so goad one another to greatness . It is a story about fighting for what you believe in , and a pic that will make you question what speciality really is . ”

Willis , for his part , has been mostly relegated to aim - to - video recording fare in late years . He has further struggled to regain the striking credibility that he enjoyed in 2012 - when he appeared inMoonrise KingdomandLooperback to back - and his functioning in this year’sDeath Wishdid little to reverse Willis ' image as a faded action star . That said , the doer could be on a verge of a rejoinder thanks to his upcoming character in both M. Night Shymalan’sUnbreakable / SplitsequelGlassandCornerman . There ’s something particularly meet about Willis playing an senesce icon who gain a newfound determination in Friend ’s pugilism drama , for that reason .

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It should also be take note thatCornermanis a different project than the Mike Tyson biopic that Jamie Foxx has been trying to get off the undercoat for for a while . Early last year , Foxx said Martin Scorsese was still attachedto direct the film , but there ’s been small movement to report on that front since then . Still , ifCornermanmakes a plash when it hits aspect ( presumptively ) next year , that could help to get Foxx ’s Tyson biopic back up and running .