Producers originally asked Eminem to play Mark Wahlberg’s role in the Oscar-nominated movie, The Fighter. David O. Russell directed the 2010 film. Also, it starred Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo. The Oscars heavily praised the film, giving it nominations like Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and two nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Screenplay under its belt. The Fighter producer, Todd Leiberman, spoke on Eminem’s potential casting on the Hollywood Gold podcast.
Lieberman said, “The first person that we thought would star in this film was Eminem. Eminem was going to be Micky Ward. That was a moment in time where he had come off of 8 Mile, and he was interested in making movies, and he wanted to do a boxing movie.” Also, he continued, “So that was something we pursued for a minute. And there was real life in that for a minute.”
Eminem’s Acting Hopes
Additionally, in a 2009 DJ Whoo Kid interviewed Wahlberg, who also produced The Fighter. In the interview, Wahlberg revealed he was considering Eminem to co-star. He told DJ Whoo Kid, “[Matt Damon and I] were supposed to do this boxing movie together. We were going to play brothers and I don’t think he’s really feeling up to it so maybe we’ll get Eminem to play the part … We want it to kinda feel authentic as opposed to getting some soft Hollywood act.”
Overall, this isn’t the first time Eminem has almost landed a role. Last year, Kirk Ewing revealed that Eminem almost appeared in the Grand Theft Auto movie after the release of Grand Theft Auto III in 2001. Ewing is a friend of the GTA creators, Sam and Dan Houser. He said the duo was offered $5 million for the rights to a movie starring Eminem. However, they turned the offer down. “[The agent] said: ‘Kirk, we’ve got Eminem to star, and it’s a Tony Scott film. $5 million on the nose. Are you interested?’ And I phoned up Sam and I said: ‘Listen to this. They want Eminem in the Grand Theft Auto movie and Tony Scott to direct.’ And he said: ‘Not interested.’”
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