Eminem tapped as lead for new movie 'Southpaw'

Eminem

Credit: AP Photo

Eminem's life and times have been chronicled in his many albums, as well as in the 2002 film "8 Mile." He'll have another chance to show what's he's got on the big screen again, though, in the developing "Southpaw."

Marshall Mathers is the vehicle for the boxing-themed flick, helmed by "Sons of Anarchy" creator and executive Kurt Sutter, according to Deadline.

DreamWorks made a preemptive acquisition of the film, with Sutter now working on the script for a draft by February, before he begins working on the fourth season of "Anarchy."

"Southpaw" will be produced by Em's Shady Films partners and handlers and by Riche Productions. It centers on a "fast-rising welterweight boxer who brawls his way to the title, only to see his world crash down around him due to tragedy."

"I took meetings with Marshall's producing partners over the past 7 years, looking for something to do together," Sutter told Deadline. "I know he's very selective and doesn't do a lot. But he shared so much of his personal struggle in this raw and very honest album, one that I connected with on a lot of levels. He is very interested in the boxing genre, and it seemed like an apt metaphor, because his own life has been a brawl. In a way, this is a continuation of the 8 Mile story, but rather than a literal biography, we are doing a metaphorical narrative of the second chapter of his life."

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.