Mike Tyson weighs in on comeback; calls Chris Brown a ‘wonderful kid’

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“I see a lot of overwhelming love that I’m not ready to handle yet,” he remarks. “It’s tough to deal with that. Really, I’m being serious. Coming from where I came from before – when I came from that dark world – this is really overwhelming when you think of it from that perspective. I’m learning slowly to deal with it, and it’s scary because I’m used to isolating myself for all those years. [Now] people are approaching me, an introvert. There would have been altercations before like what happened at the airport three years ago [Tyson beat up a paparazzi]. I learn to handle things differently. I go from a pacifist perspective.”

The star of stage and screen

Along with this newfound amicability, Tyson’s career in entertainment has similarly taken off. After years of making various cameo appearances in films and television, most notably The Hangover and The Hangover Part II, in 2012 the star embarked on a one-man show called The Untitled Truth. It’s a rare tell-all about his nightmares and daydreams – a biographical path through his life – written by his wife, Kiki, and directed by Spike Lee. The play received rave reviews in New York and Las Vegas, and is currently on a three-month tour to 36 cities across the U.S.

Not surprisingly, Tyson still believes it is boxing that informs his every move.

“I always had an interest in entertaining people, but my first outlet was from being a boxer,” he points out. “It’s pretty much the same stuff. It has a lot to do with your confidence, and being comfortable…repetition with the lines. Just going along with lines and your character – your personality mood swings. You have to be real sharp and real slow. Everything has to be tenth of a second thinking, but done in two to three minutes.”

The Tyson acting technique

In Scary Movie 5, Tyson takes on a character he knows best: himself. It’s a “minute” role as he describes it, but another chance to add to his credits and study the camera. He says he was brought onto the project by co-star Charlie Sheen, and enjoys mocking himself as much as he does watching others parody him. Mostly though, he likes “having fun, being goofy,” and seems appreciative of the opportunity acting has offered him in rebuilding his reputation.

“It’s been extremely helpful because you can tell from my whole clientele of people that come to my shows, and the people that are my fans, they’re people who aren’t even old enough to have seen me fight,” Tyson notes. “When you think about it, that’s really creepy. It’s really new to me. I heard a young boy say, he must have been 12 or something, he said, ‘There go [sic] Mike Tyson, the actor, Dad. Mike Tyson, the actor, just walked by.’ I was like ‘Wait a second, young man, I’m the heavyweight champion of the world.’ But he would never know anything about that.”

A boxer, actor, comedian, and fighter. With such a dramatic life, who then would Tyson like to see portray him on screen?

“Jamie Foxx.”

Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @CourtGarcia