Eminem Has Turned Down Some Insane Movie Roles In His Career
We all know Eminem has some respectable acting chops thanks to his pseudo-bio flick "8 Mile." Couple some talent with his box office drawing power, it really shouldn't come as too big of a surprise that Marshall Mathers has to field calls for the occasional film role from time to time.
Of course, we know he hasn't been the type to accept those offers. Since 8 Mile's release in 2002, Slim Shady has only done a handful of cameo appearances in Hollywood, (Funny People [2009], and The Interview [2014].) The Detroit-native has in fact turned down some insane leading-role opportunities on the silver screen in his career.
According to TikTok creator FatMovieDad, a self proclaimed "CEO of Movie Facts & Fatherhood," Eminem has turned down roles big enough for the likes of Matt Damon, Christian Bale and even Darth Vader himself, Hayden Christensen. And yes, all of these offers for Eminem check out.
In his latest video, FatMovieDad reveals some of the films Eminem has turned down over the years, starting off with a real shocker, the Fast and the Furious franchise.
Yep, Eminem was offered the role that eventually went to Paul Walker. Considering the franchise exploded the way it did, Slim probably wouldn't have been able to focus on music quite as much. This one worked out well for all parties in the long run. Besides, as FatMovieDad points out, Eminem was still shooting 8 Mile at the time. Slim's music has been featured in the franchise since, including "Speeding" and "Second Chance".
Eminem also turned down the role later given to Ethan Hawke in Training Day alongside Denzel Washington for the same reasons. Hawke went on to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film. Of course, 8 Mile took home its fair share of awards too.
One of the more interesting situations revolves around Eminem's involvement with the movie "Southpaw." Jake Gyllenhaal ended up playing the lead role, but not before Eminem was fully prepared to take a role that was initially written for him specifically.
“We knew how important being a father to his daughter is," Peter Riche, one-half of the father-son duo that produced the film told Business Insider in 2015. "We didn’t fear going to Eminem and saying this is an amazing role for you and if you got yourself in shape it would be a tour-de-force.”
Weeks before shooting was set to begin, Mathers pulled out of the project due to musical inspiration for his next album, which ended up being "Revival". Slim did give work to the film in the end, writing and producing much of the film's soundtrack album.
Eminem also turned down role given to Matt Damon in Elysium and the villainous role in Shooter eventually given to Michael Peña. Guess action roles don't fit in too well with the often wacky nature of Slim Shady.
Shooter wasn't the only time Eminem turned down a movie that would feature him alongside Mark Wahlberg. Turning down his second boxing movie, Eminem was considered for the role in The Fighter which was eventually landed by Christian Bale, Wahlberg's older brother in the movie. I have to say, I haven't seen many movies on this list, but The Fighter is an incredible film (I even did a group project on it in college), but with Bale's acting prowess through its runtime, I can't begin to imagine Eminem in this movie. I strongly recommend this movie if you haven't seen it.
Another more famous example of Slim Shady opting out of a film was when 50 Cent offered Eminem $8 million and the opportunity to film all of his parts in Detroit in his film Rival Gangs. 50 Cent offered such a tantalizing deal to Eminem just for the potential co-star to turn down the film's direction.
From StereoGum:
“He read the synopsis and was like, ‘It’s cool but we should do something like The Warriors,'” referencing the 1979 cult movie about the rivalry between New York City gangs.
50 continued: “‘I said, ‘The Warriors? What the f---, Em? The Warriors? Did you just hear me say they want to give you eight million dollars and you don’t have to leave Detroit?’ He didn’t give a f---.”
The most outlandish of them all is the final reference from FatMovieDad - Eminem was once considered to play Batman.
One of Bruce Wayne's defining traits is certainly not slim, but nonetheless, Marshall Mathers was indeed approached in the early days of the film's development to play the Dark Knight in Batman vs. Superman. And yes, this is the same Batman vs. Superman project that went on to feature Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill as the two behemoth superheroes.
Would Eminem's role in the film made it more successful? Not likely. For some other films on this list, certainly.
Check out FatMovieDad's TikTok video below.