Interview: ‘Big George Foreman’ Star Khris Davis On Becoming The Former Heavyweight Champion, His Spirituality, And Theater Vs. Film
Photo from Deadline
Walking into the room and first meeting actor Khris Davis, I was struck by how warm and welcoming he was. The theater actor best known for ‘The Royale’ and ‘Death of a Salesman,’ as well as his role in television’s ‘Atlanta,’ sat down with a group of journalists to talk about his transformative role in the upcoming film ‘Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World.’
The film explores George Foreman’s career over the years from a spiritual perspective that required Davis to step into his shoes, but also to physically transform his body in order to portray the boxing icon at different points in his life.
On the physical transformation:
What I learned was I can put my body through a lot of trauma, you know, because even the boxing training is incredibly difficult. And there were days where I just felt like it was impossible and I wasn’t going to be able to do the job, but when it came to gaining the weight, thank god that I had done the boxing training before because I had already experienced so much intense working out. My body was being stretched and pulled in 20 different directions that when it came to gaining the weight, I was ready for that kind of intensity. So you know, they wanted me to gain , to get to around 280/285, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do that, so we got a plan together with a nutritionist… 4,000 calories a day when I was just home sitting around, 5,000 calories a day when I was filming, 6,000 calories a day when I was boxing training, however that was never going to get me to weight, so we did some mixing and matching and I ended up eating 7,000 calories a day and I gained 50 pounds in 5 weeks. I went from 225 to 275 and, in total, I got to 282. So it was really intense, man. The first week all I could do was see starts and sleep.
It’s clear that Davis’ time with George Foreman and his experience on the film left a profound impact on him. Always referring to the titular figure as Mr. Foreman, the respect Davis’ has for the former champion is palpable.
On George Foreman’s spirituality and what he takes away form the role…
Well, what I take from it is, you know… just because you’re spiritual doesn’t mean that life isn’t hard and it doesn’t mean that sometimes you don’t lose faith, because you will, because you’ll be challenged. And the challenge is to keep your faith and keep leaning on your faith with those challenges. It doesn’t mean that you’re not going to have to work hard, doesn’t mean that you’re not going to lose everything, it just means that you’re going to have to dig deeper and lean further into that faith. So I already believed that for myself before getting this film, so it was exciting that that aspect of his life was in there, because I could identify, and I thought that it would help tell the story from beginning to end, how I can lean into that, or lead into that, find that, and carry that.
With such a storied career and a layered personal story, there is only so much that can make it into a film.
On what didn’t make it into the film that he wishes would have…
When I read his autobiography By George, reading that book I was like “this man’s life can be like 10 seasons,” you know… 10 seasons of a tv show because it’s so epic. So you had to just pick what story we wanted to tell and kind of stay true to that, but there is so much that didn’t make it into the script and so much that didn’t make it into the movie that we did, because he had such an incredible life. The word “miraculous” is there because it is miraculous, his story. I wish that we could have done like a three part or some type of a mini-series because we couldn’t really touch on everything.
Davis’ talent is diverse and memorable in each of the roles that he has taken, whether that is on stage in a retelling of ‘Death of a Salesman’ or in tentpole films like ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy.” I was interested in knowing how his approach changes, however, depending on the type of project he is working on.
On what he prefers: preparing for film vs. theater…
I used to say theater because I thought it was more intellectual, but they both come with tremendous challenges and I think that if you’re going to act at the highest level than all of the work is intellectual. I think this film proved me wrong with that, this film showed me light when it comes to what you can do with tv and film, how you can still inspire through tv and film, how it can be intellectual, how it requires those deeper parts of you, as well. Sure we tell it in segments, but if we’re telling it correctly, if we’re still doing the same kind of work that we do on these set scripts that we do on stage, than I think that we can tell a very impactful and powerful story and they both deserve the same amount of energy.
‘Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World’ hits theaters on April 28th, 2023.
