live_tv
Livestream Starting Soon
00
Hours
:
00
Minutes
:
00
Seconds
Up next in 10
Before 8 Mile, Eminem was already a global superstar. Little did his audience know, he was also a talented actor. From being discovered by Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, to multiple platinum selling records, to an eventual Oscar win, Eminem was on top of the world. And after 8 Mile was released, audiences were excited to see the rap star in many more Hollywood features. But since his turn as Jimmy B-Rabbit Smith Jr., Eminem has only graced the silver screen a couple times, with no real ambition to go back.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
All right, come on, man
0:01
How you feeling? Feel good. You feel good? Yeah. You sure? I'm ready
0:06
When Eminem exploded onto the hip hop scene in the late 90s, the world took notice in a big way
0:11
In just a few short years, he went from a virtual unknown to a legendary figure, proving that he could do anything
0:17
he set his mind to, including becoming a movie star. But after the release and massive success
0:22
of the semi-autobiographical 8 Mile, Eminem effectively abandoned the big screen and any hope of an acting career
0:28
So, what happened? Eminem's meteoric rise to stardom shone a light on the 90s and early 2000s hip-hop landscape
0:35
that has left a lasting and somewhat controversial legacy. From accusations of bigotry and misogyny
0:40
to the unfortunate optics of being a white rapper in a predominantly black art form
0:45
Eminem saw his fair share of justifiable critiques over the years. At the same time, his particular brand of rap also brought huge waves of new listeners to the genre
0:54
which ultimately helped to bring about a global hip-hop boom. Born as Marshall Mathers III in 1972, Eminem grew up mainly in a Detroit suburb
1:02
He had a fairly rough upbringing full of bullying and brutal poverty. He sought refuge in art and comic books before eventually gravitating toward music
1:09
As such, a lot of his early library is tinged with unapologetic nerdiness, irreverence
1:14
and self-deprecation. Still, even if it seemed like Em was consistently the butt of his own jokes, he was always
1:20
exceptionally serious about his craft. There was an undercurrent of pure ambition and drive in him that was evident to anyone
1:26
who was paying attention. And luckily, Brian Grazer, the soon-to-be producer of 8 Mile
1:30
was paying attention. As Grazer told Rolling Stone, I randomly saw Eminem on MTV, and in the span of six or seven seconds, he goes from this icy
1:38
urban, scary glare to this fluid, self-effacing kind of fun character. I had to meet him
1:43
Sometime between 1999 and 2000, Grazer got his wish. He met with Eminem, and after a tense start
1:49
the two hit it off Em told Grazer his life story and Grazer screenwriter Scott Silver and director Curtis Hansen would go on to create 8 Mile specifically for the rapper This was clearly going to be an Eminem vehicle but while the movie was built from the ground up
2:03
with his strengths in mind, Em made it clear what he wanted from the project. He didn't want to be
2:08
in an Eminem movie, he wanted to be an actor in a really good movie. This is largely why 8 Mile
2:13
ended up being a fictional story with some autobiographical elements rather than a flat-out
2:17
retelling of Em's real life, which turned out to be a good move. Playing a character not only gave
2:22
the rapper freedom in the narrative, but also provided an opportunity for him to show off his
2:26
not insignificant talent. The jump from corny acting in your own music videos to playing a
2:37
character in a sincere dramatic movie isn't an easy one to make, and many other musicians before
2:42
and since have tried and failed. Yet, Eminem cleared that hurdle with surprising proficiency
2:47
His role in 8 Mile as Jimmy B. Rabbit Smith Jr. is grim and joyless with only a handful of moments
2:53
of levity, that being the few comedic beats with his friends and when he comes alive on stage in
2:58
front of a crowd at the shelter. M lost a total of 24 pounds for the part, and it's especially
3:03
evident in his sunken facial features. His eyes sear into his opponents during rap battles
3:08
and his permanently affixed scowl feels equal parts sad and menacing. There's not much of the
3:13
dorky, unpretentious, slim shady to be found in this performance, you certainly wouldn't catch
3:18
Bee Rabbit donning an ill-fitting Robin costume or getting pushed around in a shopping cart by an
3:22
alien. And even though M could bring a more intense and focused tone to his real-life interviews
3:27
applying that same energy to a film role is a skill worth noting. There's also something to
3:32
be said for the movie's incredibly powerful soundtrack, which the rapper had a major hand
3:36
in writing and producing. Music, diegetic or otherwise, permeates the world of 8 Mile. The
3:41
story revolves around it, and it's a key feature of all the most memorable scenes
3:46
M's talent as a lyricist is on full display throughout most of the runtime, and his character's
3:51
rap battles feel genuine because they were He wrote every one of his rhymes and many of the crowd reactions were genuine responses to hearing them out loud for the first time Of course it wasn all Eminem The cast surrounding him was solid with Mackay Pfeiffer future and Brittany Murphy Alex being
4:06
particular standouts. Em's performance was also fortified by Hanson's directorial ability to tell
4:11
solid stories purely through visuals. There's a grungy, hard-edged reality to 8 Mile that comes
4:16
off as a mostly authentic portrayal of its working class Detroit setting. So even when the
4:22
script is at its most cliche, we're being evicted. God, there's still something of substance for the
4:28
audience and Eminem to hold on to. Upon release in November of 2002, reviews for the movie were
4:34
mixed but skewed positive, with many critics praising Eminem's first outing as a professional
4:39
actor. Even if they boiled the performance down to him simply playing himself, the harshest critics
4:44
still seemed to recognize a potential in Eminem to be a real star if he continued to broaden his horizons
4:49
Audiences, meanwhile, were enamored with 8 Mile. On release, the soundtrack charted at number one
4:55
and sold three and a half million copies in its first year. Lose Yourself became Eminem's first number one single
5:00
and eventually won him an Oscar for Best Original Song. The Oscar goes to Eminem, Jeff Bass, and Louise Russell
5:07
for Lose Yourself from 8 Mile. The movie itself grossed $242 million off a budget of just $41 million
5:16
So whether you thought Eminem's performance was lackluster or not, the verdict was in
5:20
The rapper had star power. The next logical step would be for Hollywood to turn Eminem
5:25
into a full-blown icon on the silver screen. And that did seem to be the plan
5:29
He was pursued by various production companies for a flurry of starring roles over the years
5:33
Everything from Brian O'Connor in The Fast and the Furious to Billy Hope in Southpaw to, yes, even Batman
5:40
were offered to the up-and-coming actor. In another universe, Eminem could have even taken Tom Hardy's place in Mad Max Fury Road
5:47
Obviously, none of these castings would come to be, and for a long time no one really knew why Eminem had mysteriously come and gone so quickly in the eyes of moviegoers Why wasn he taking advantage of all these big names and bigger paychecks knocking down his door I think he had a terrible experience on the 8 Mile Project Oh yeah something
6:05
because he just didn't want to go back again. In 2011, Eminem opened up to Rolling Stone about
6:10
his struggle with addiction and pointed to 8 Mile's production as the tipping point. As the
6:14
star of the movie, who appears in literally every scene, Em was pulling 16-hour days and then
6:19
returning to his trailer to work on the movie's soundtrack. In his words, Eminem wanted to put out the best performance possible on screen, yes, but especially with his
6:40
music. This heavy workload mixed with his ambitious all-or-nothing attitude had him
6:44
turning to pills to sleep at night, and things only escalated from there. Thankfully, the rapper
6:48
would eventually get himself clean, and he's been sober for 16 years now. But his experience on set
6:53
certainly colored his perspective on the Hollywood machine. While M has shown up in various movies and
6:58
TV shows since 8 Mile, he's only ever appeared as himself in a cameo
7:02
Ray Romano's bothering you? Ray, who? Ray Romano, the guy from Everybody Loves Raymond
7:07
Look who the f***, which show he's on. I'll f*** this mother f***er up, man. It seems like his days as a movie star are over. If this choice was strictly made because of his
7:15
past bad experiences, it would be a shame. But in a 2021 interview with Jimmy Kimmel
7:19
50 Cent touched on another, more telling reason for Eminem's withdrawal from the screen
7:24
Projects that offer him $8 million to do it. It doesn't move him at all. He's like, let's just go record records, man. Despite his obvious burgeoning acting talent and the money he
7:32
stands to make from other opportunities, Eminem simply isn't interested in making movies. From the
7:37
beginning, his focus has always been on his career as a rap artist. Even during the filming of 8
7:41
mild, the movie's soundtrack was so important to him that he sacrificed his own mental and
7:45
physical health to perfect it. And over 20 years later, music is still his first priority
7:50
Essentially, Eminem took his own advice and lost himself in the music
#Celebrities & Entertainment News
#Film & TV Industry
#Movies