Eminem says that many Hollywood producers have wanted to hitch their wagons to his star by casting him in a feature film ever since he exploded onto the music charts with 1999’s The Slim Shady LP. However, the rapper-turned-actor was determined to make his big-screen debut in a film that he thought he should make, and not just appear in a film because he could.
Enter 8 Mile. When Eminem read screenwriter Scott Silver’s script for the movie, which is loosely based on Eminem’s life, the recording artist knew he’d found the perfect script and the perfect film for him, as he explains, “I don’t read much, but as soon as I got the script I started reading a few pages and I was, like, ‘Yo, this is something I wanna do.’ And, you know, there was in-between-there was downtime in between The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show, (so) there was time for me to do it, you know? So once I had the time that I could focus 100 percent (on the project) and the script was good, we did it.”
8 Mile, which also stars Kim Basinger (news), was realized by L.A. Confidential director Curtis Hanson (news) and opens nationwide on Friday (November 8).
