Russell Hornsby has a lot of projects he’s currently working on. The in-demand actor is currently starring in the 50 Cent produced STARZ drama in the third and final season of the Netflix sci-fi series . But one of his highly anticipated roles is as boxing promoter legend Don King in the forthcoming biographical Hulu series Iron Mike, which chronicles Mike Tyson’s boxing career.
King is a controversial figure. Though he’s credited with helping put Tyson on the map, he has a bad reputation of being a money-hungry promoter who preyed on vulnerable athletes eager to make a better life for themselves. Tyson and King have had their issues. But, this will be one of the first projects of many centering on Tyson’s life, and it will shine a light on Tyson and King’s relationship.
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Hornsby spoke with PopCulture.com recently and dished about the role, admitting there are some jitters during production due to the way King is perceived. “Well, first and foremost, I’m a little nervous. I can’t lie,” Hornsby told us. Still, he’s putting in a lot of effort to humanize King in the series.
“The thing is, it’s not about getting it right or wrong. It’s about getting it true. And so as just for me as an actor, what I look to do, we know that there are aspects of Don King that is a showman, that he is a character and someone say a caricature in some standpoints and that’s all there,” he adds. “But for me, I have to be able to find moments where we can give humanity where no matter what our perception of him is, or what we think or thought of him, that we know that he’s a human being. And so where did this behavior come from? How did it come about? How did it manifest? And I look to ask those questions.”
Hornsby is focusing on creating a backstory to give context to King’s persona. “I look to find that out and I have to create that for myself because it’s not readily available,” he continues. “That knowledge is not readily available. So I have to extrapolate from the givens about who he is or who he was, and then create a whole backstory and idea about how Don King came to be as Don King. You know what I mean? And so that’s my job and I’m excited by it. Like I said, a little nervous, but I think it’s going to be good. I think I’m really looking forward to people seeing it. Trevante Rhodes is killing it, quite honestly. And I’m having fun.”
There is no release date set for Iron Mike just yet. In the meantime, BMF airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Starz, and previous episodes are available to stream with a Starz subscription. You can read our full Q&A with Russell Hornsby here, and you can watch it in its entirety at the top of this article.
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