George Foreman, 74, is known today as much for his beloved grill as he is for his boxing exploits.
“Big George Foreman,” a new movie out in theaters this weekend, provides the world a look at his entire life. It covers his time being bullied as child, seeking refuge as a boxer, finding God, his comeback in the ring and his more recent time as a minister, humanitarian and pitchman.
Khris Davis, a relative unknown actor, played Foreman from his teen years into his 40s in the movie.
“I felt an immense responsibility to be able to carry the torch of Mr. Foreman’s story. I desperately wanted to get it right,” Davis said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the Four Seasons in Atlanta earlier this month to promote the movie.
In a separate interview, Foreman said Davis pulled it off: “He didn’t just do an imitation of George Foreman. He acted out the true story. Parts of the time, I was moved to tears.”
Foreman, a Texas native, was an executive producer and provided feedback on the script.
The movie, shot in New Orleans, faced multiple challenges. The pandemic pushed back the shooting schedule six months. Michael K. Williams, set to play Foreman’s valued coach Doc Broadus, unexpectedly died and the role was given to Forrest Whitaker.
Hurricane Ida then hit New Orleans and delayed production another three months. This did give Davis time to hone his boxing skills and his body. “We continued fight training. I never stopped.”
Davis also got to spend some time with Foreman in New Orleans. “When I asked him for advice, he just said, ‘I believe in you. You know what you’re doing’.”
The actor studied Foreman on video in his earlier years, watching his boxing matches, his press conferences and his appearances on “The Tonight Show” and “Sanford and Son.” While Foreman was seen in his early years as a brooding, sullen man with a chip on his shoulder, Davis noticed something else.
“I saw these smiles,” Davis said. “I saw his eyes glimmering as he was looking at people. He could be fun, full of life. He was a kind person affected by circumstances.”
Credit: Alan Markfield
Credit: Alan Markfield
Foreman, despite having a faithful mom, didn’t believe in religion until he was knocked out during a boxing match in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1977 and nearly died. “I laid in that dressing room and Jesus Christ came alive in me,” he recalled. “I was given another chance to live and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
Becoming a minister was not an easy path, he said. He first tried his hand working the gospel on the sidewalks of Houston, then opened the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and a youth center.
By this time, Davis noted, Foreman “didn’t need to be that big bad guy anymore. Now he could just be who he truly was, that guy full of life who loved to laugh and tell jokes.”
When Foreman found out his financial advisor had misappropriated his cash and his youth center might have to close, he sold his prized possessions and signed autographs to raise money. It wasn’t enough.
“Not too far from here in a town in Georgia, a guy offered to raise money for my youth center if I stayed around for three days,” Foreman recalled. “I was so ashamed. Right then I decided I was going to go back and become heavyweight champion. That was how I was going to get money for my youth center.”
His wife Mary Joan was not a fan of him going back in the ring but eventually supported him, he said.
“She had to learn to drive my stick shift truck to drop me off 10, 15 miles away from home so I’d have to run back,” he said. “She never gave up on me.” (They remain married. She is his fifth wife.)
Davis, who spent months getting himself into six-pack shape to play early Foreman, also had to play 1990s-era Foreman in the film. He gained 50 pounds in five weeks, consuming a whopping 7,000 calories a day. Foreman ultimately became the oldest heavyweight champion of the world at age 45.
“Did you see the belly?” Davis said. “It was crazy! I did all this work for this body in peak physical shape. Then had to dump it all!”
The movie only mentions the insanely popular George Foreman Grill in passing. Foreman made tens of millions in royalties from the grill between 1994 to 1999 before selling the rights to his name for $138 million.
To this day, Foreman said, his primary job is to serve God. “Being a pastor is my profession, not a grill salesman. I moonlight as a grill salesman.”
WHERE TO WATCH
“Big George Foreman,” in area theaters Friday, April 28
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