The 'Taxi Driver' actor has been added to the cast of Hulu's 'Iron Mike' while the 'Halloween' actress reteams with the 'Scream Queens' creator for the Glenn Burke TV biopic.
- Oct 17, 2021
AceShowbiz - Harvey Keitel has signed on to play boxing legend Mike Tyson's trainer, Cus D'amato, in a new biopic series.
The eight-episode Hulu programme, "Iron Mike", will feature "Moonlight" star Trevante Rhodes as the former heavyweight champion, Laura Harrier, and "Twin Peaks" actress Grace Zabriskie.
Harrier will play Robin Givens, Tyson's first wife, while Zabriskie has been cast as D'Amato's wife Camille, who took the young Mike in and treated him like a son when he began training with her husband.
Tyson himself has criticised the series, insisting the project is a "tone-deaf cultural misappropriation of my life story."
He is collaborating with Jamie Foxx and director Antoine Fuqua on an authorised mini-series about his life. Foxx will portray the boxer in that project.
Meanwhile, Jamie Lee Curtis' passion project about the baseball star who gave the first high five has been given a big boost - her "Scream Queens" co-creator Ryan Murphy has signed on as a producer.
The "Halloween" star has been trying to get a project about Los Angeles Dodgers player Glenn Burke made for years and now the series has been picked up by Netflix bosses with Murphy on board.
"Ryan is producing a project I've been trying to get made as a producer for over 10 years," Curtis tells Hero Nation. "I've had the rights to a project of the life of the man who invented the high five."
Burke was 19 when he gave the first recorded high five in 1977 after baseball great Dusty Baker hit his record-tying 30th home run during the last game of the regular season. The event was also documented on ESPN's "30 for 30" film "The High Five", directed by Michael Jacobs.
Burke was also the first professional baseball player to come out as gay to his teammates and team owners during his professional career.
He died of AIDs in 1995.
Tentatively titled "Outfielder", Jamie Lee's series is being written and directed by Robert O'Hara.
