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Plenty of musicians try their hands at acting. There are also plenty of music biopics. What about when an actor stars in their own (ostensible) biopic? Well, then you have 8 Mile. Eminem stars in a movie largely based on his life, and it could have turned out a real misfire all things considered. Instead, we got one of the most successful music-based movies ever. Sit down with your spaghetti and read these 20 facts you might not know about 8 Mile.
8 Mile derives its name from a main street in the Metro Detroit area that serves as the borderline for the city of Detroit in the north. The film was actually shot in the environs of Detroit. The Shelter, where Jimmy goes to his first (unsuccessful) rap battle, is an actual venue in Detroit.
Fresh off writing and directing The Mod Squad, Scott Silver was given the task of writing the script to 8 Mile. After this film, Silver’s career would stall for a bit, but he’s found real success in recent years. The writer has gotten Oscar nominations for being the cowriter of both The Fighter and Joker.
Silver has picked up a couple of screenplay nominations from the Academy Awards. Curtis Hanson, the director of 8 Mile, actually has an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. He and co-writer Brian Helgeland won for L.A. Confidential. Hanson also got a Best Director nomination for that movie.
Before Hanson got the role, Stephen Daldry, Danny Boyle, and Quentin Tarantino were also in the mix. Tarantino reportedly would have liked to do it, but was busy working on Kill Bill.
Hanson isn’t the only one who an Oscar for L.A. Confidential. Kim Basinger secured a breakthrough win in the Best Supporting Actress category for that movie as well. In 8 Mile, Basinger would be cast as Stephanie, the mother of Jimmy.
Proof, Eminem’s compatriot from his real battle rap experience, was the inspiration for the character of Future. The rapper was offered the opportunity to play Future in the movie, but he failed to show up for the audition. At that point, Hanson decided to get a real actor in Mekhi Phifer. Proof would end up in a smaller role of Lil’ Tic.
Seth Rogen was given the chance to audition for the role of Cheddar Bob, Eminem’s friend. Looking for somebody to read for him so he could gear up for his audition, Rogen reached out to his friend Jason Segal. Then, Rogen found out that Segal was auditioning for the part as well. Neither got it, as Evan Jones ended up playing Cheddar Bob.
These days, Anthony Mackie is well known for playing Falcon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Back in 2002, though, he was still an inexperienced, striving actor. Mackie made his film debut as the rapper “Papa Doc” in 8 Mile.
As Eminem, Marshall Mathers was known for his platinum blond hair. However, Hanson was concerned that Eminem’s hair style would lead to people thinking of him as “Eminem” and not as “Jimmy.” As such, Hanson had Eminem revert to his natural hair color.
The rapper was thrown into the deep end of acting. Eminem is in every single scene of 8 Mile. Apparently, after finishing the film, Eminem said to Hanson, “Never again.” He hasn’t had a real acting role since.
Now, Michael Shannon’s character Greg is Jimmy’s mom’s boyfriend, so he isn’t playing Jimmy’s father or anything. Nevertheless, it is notable that Shannon is actually two years younger than Eminem is in real life.
In addition to being in every scene, Eminem had work to do when he wasn’t acting. Between takes, the rapper would get out his notebook and work on composing the movie’s soundtrack and the songs for the film.
The piece of paper that Jimmy writes “Lose Yourself” on in 8 Mile? That was the actual sheet that Eminem worked out the song on. That lyric sheet was auctioned off after the movie and sold for $10,000.
Though a script was written for 8 Mile, some improvisation ended up happening. Eminem couldn’t resist improvising a bit in the battle rap scenes, throwing new lines into the mix. This, in turn, threw off some of his other rappers, leading to some genuine reactions in the film — one assumes.
In order to keep the extras occupied between takes, they decided to have a real rap battle on set. Over 100 people entered the contest and were given 15 seconds to rap before an assembled jury. The top-four rappers all got to be in the movie and go against Eminem in a rap battle in the film.
8 Mile provided a massively successful soundtrack, even though Eminem is only on five tracks. The album debuted at No. 1 in the United States and would eventually go quadruple Platinum. Additionally, “Lose Yourself” became Eminem’s first No. 1 hit.
Eminem was clearly a draw in 2002. 8 Mile opened to $51.2 million domestically, the second-highest opening weekend for an R-rated movie at the time. Ultimately, the film would make $242.9 million worldwide off of a budget of $41 million.
Apparently, people didn’t get enough of 8 Mile in the theater. During its first week of being available on DVD, the movie made $75 million in sales and rentals. This was the most ever for an R-rated movie.
8 Mile picked up one nomination from the Academy Awards for Best Original Song. “Lose Yourself” was not merely nominated. It actually won, becoming the first rap song to win an Oscar.
Eminem may have made history, but he wasn’t there to enjoy it. Not expecting to win, Eminem had decided to stay home to hang out with his daughter. Instead, the song’s co-writer Luis Resto accepted the award.
Chris Morgan is a sports and pop culture writer and the author of the books The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and The Ash Heap of History. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisXMorgan.
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