On the back of The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show, which brought him both hit singles and critical praise, it would have been extremely easy for him to coast on a project like this. Sometimes you get even both phenomena in the same film, as was the case in Ken Russell's Tommy: Tina Turner excels as the Acid Queen, while Eric Clapton (with both a real and a fake beard) is barely credible.Ĩ Mile came at a time when Eminem was at the peak of his powers. Sometimes this can work to the film's advantage - for instance, David Byrne in True Stories - but for every figure like David Bowie who can serve a role, there are a dozen singers who simply can't fit in. Even if the film in question isn't already a vanity project about the musician's life (Glitter, Purple Rain, Moonwalker and so on), there's a tendency for singers to either play themselves or needlessly draw attention to their presence. And you got people saying, “Why ya’ll n-s around the white rapper?” I got the mark of stitches on my hand to this day that I had from slapping some dude in the face that said, “Fuck the white boy.When musicians turn their hand to acting, the results can often not be pretty. It was times where the crowd would try to heckle Em. It was animosity in the air a little bit. You know: “I’m trying to get on but this ain’t working for me.” And that’s all a bad mix. Strike described the shooting:Įverybody there in the crowd was a performer, a rapper, a ex-rapper, a never-could-really-rap-for-real real rapper. The authenticity the crew worked on was achieved. Proof went to him to get the money for that. My manager was like, “If they try to arrest you, I’ll shoot in the air, you run!” Em done bailed me out on my attempted murder case. At that time I was in the streets, carrying guns. When we pulled up to the, we actually thought it was the feds. It was funny because I was on the run from the feds at that time.

As was Strike himself, who had to be bailed from prison to even show up at the shooting location. It meant that for all his battles he wanted to face real rappers, real MCs, who often were on the wrong side of the law at that time.

It is a well-known fact that shooting the film Eminem wanted to stay as true and authentic as possible. “Strike” Sanders, who played Lyckety-Splyt in “8 mile”. There is a man in Detroit who has more reasons to send a birthday message to Eminem than many of us, because this man has something to be grateful for to Eminem.

Eminem 8 mile