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Boxing, Sex and Madness: Mike Tyson, James Toback and the Ties That Bind

In Tyson documentary, boxer tells it in his own words

A A A Comments (5) By Scott Foundas Wednesday, Apr 8 2009

Kevin Scanlon

“Once you’ve experienced madness, it separates you in some fundamental way from everybody else who hasn’t,” says toback. “By definition, it is almost another form of humanity, or of inhumanity.”

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He too has his own chorus of disapproval to win over. Standing on the stage at the Cannes Film Festival last May, where the world premiere of Tyson received a 10-minute standing ovation, Tyson, though in tears, was once again firmly entrenched in the chaos of the brain. “At first, I thought, maybe these white people are all making fun of me,” he says. “Then I said to myself, ‘No, it’s wrong to think that.’ But I still hear these voices, and I have to fight them.”

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Victoriana216 05/09/2011 10:17:00 PM

He's still doing it! Happened to me today in Manhattan.

marcie 04/19/2009 11:08:00 PM

Ewww is right. Same thing Victoria describied with Toback happened to me and others over 2 decades ago on Sunset Blvd. in L A and I know it's happened elsewhere in town, he was famous or infamous for it and played on this in his Pickup Artist, and I recall there was a book which mentioned this. He kept following me in a way that was creepy yet managed to be unintimidating, because he blurted out his credits and I remembered at least two of his films -- it struck me as so odd that a famous person would resort to something like this and so openly, without any shame. After a few times he sat down at my table where I was having coffee and it was clear some famous at least B-level actresses had succumbed to his advances, in hopes of furthering their careers; I overheard him on the phone discussing the uninhibited sexual efforts of one name actress to fulfill her end of the deal, and he advised the guy on the other side to try the same (apparently directing a tv show), that she'd do anything while her boyfriend was out of town, but froze up soon as he hit the tarmac at LAX, and suggested the guy get cozy with her secretary to learn her schedule. It sounded like they actually made an effort to uphold their end of the quid-pro-quo as long as the actress wasn't too picky about what parts she got -- they discussed Toback's latest conquest, a very sexy actress known more for wearing few clothes than for her lines, and what offers they could scare up for her with friends. And despite this sliminess, he was known to have the ear and backing of Warren Beatty and others who knew that beneath this slimy persona was a brilliant Harvard mind uniquely suited to document the sleazy secret lives of others like himself who lived outside social norms. Toback was profiled as also taking a meeting at the Harvard Club in Manhattan showing up in a jacket and tie, and white underwear and socks, a la Tom Cruise. Beatty told a reporter at the time that he knew what Toback was like, but considered himself a brilliantly unique vision. Indeed. This makes me uncomfortable about the subtext of this movie and the relationship between Toback's and his subject's inner demons, relationships to women as reflects their own inner insecurities and how those relate to their own appearance and problems with self-image, due to their being made fun of for their looks when younger (this is stated in Tyson's case and can be surmised in Toback's). Seeing Tyson through such notorious eyes gives the movie, this article, the photo of them together and everything surrounding the making and promotion of this movie. While the piece is well-written as far as it goes, it doesn't go nearly deep enough in investigating the filmmaker whose own notorious and self-consciously perverted persona is the weirdly brilliant yet slimy filter to the rest of the world.

Nick Antonicello 04/12/2009 7:07:00 AM

Scott Foundas is another in a long line of writers that have bought into the celebrity of Mike Tyson rather than truly evaluate his contribution to the sport of boxing. Tyson can be described best as overrated when one examines who he fought in a career that self-destructed. While Tyson should be recognized for winning the title at the age of twenty, his career mimicks Floyd Patterson after the Marciano reign of the 1950's when Patterson became champion practially by default and his defeat of an aging light heavyweight, Archie Moore. Tyson's ring activity in between 1985 and 1987 saw him go 32-0 against carefully selected opponents, weak contenders, aging ex-champions and overblown light heavyweights. Consider the fact Tyson defeated Trevor Berbick for the title in 1986 only to defend against the likes of James Smith, Pinklon Thomas, Tony Tucker, Tyrell Biggs and Larry Holmes only displayed the division's lack of talent. His one round knockout of Michael Spinks that unified the title was really a heavyweight versus a light heavyweight that moved up because of the vaccum in the heavyweight ranks. His loss to James Buster Douglas In Japan of 1990 while regarded as a monumental upset was really a demonstration in the overall weakness of the division until Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield brought some stature back to the heavyweights. After Tyson's loss to Douglas, he finished his career a very average 13-5 with two no contests. The delf destruction of Mike Tyson is based in race. A feeling that White America had it in for him when in reality White America was his biggest fan! His problems with Don King began a steep, downward spiral and the legend of Mike Tyson seems now far larger than the reality.

marla 04/10/2009 10:12:00 PM

Thank you for your well written and emotional piece on Tyson.

Victoria 04/09/2009 4:19:00 PM

James Toback, ewwwww. That guy used to hit on me on Manhattan streets over the course of seven years. He hit on a bunch of other women I know. Spy magazine did a hilarious story on his compulsion. The line he used to use on me was "Hi, I'm a director and I'd like to put you in one of my movies." When I told him I wasn't an actress, he persisted. Very soon he got down to the nitty-gritty: "Do you have a boyfriend?" Ugh. Wonder if he's still doing it.