nds76
06-14-2006, 11:11am
Eminem may be ready to step beyond "8 Mile."
The Detroit rapper born Marshall Mathers has his eyes on a starring role in a possible feature film based on the 1950s TV series "Have Gun -- Will Travel," a Hollywood trade magazine reported Tuesday.
Eminem handlers confirmed to the Free Press that Eminem is linked to the picture, to be financed by his own Paramount Pictures studio subsidiary, and said the project is in the development stage, with no production date scheduled.
If the film were to stick to the essentials of the TV series, Eminem would play a refined but street-savvy gun-for-hire named Paladin, who dresses in black as he hunts fugitives and other ne'er-do-wells. Unlike the CBS show, which aired from 1957 to 1963 and starred Richard Boone, a big-screen version with the multiplatinum rapper wouldn't be set in the Old West.
The film would be updated for the new millennium, reported Variety magazine, which broke the story. And it could be set in Detroit -- though that wouldn't necessarily translate to a Motor City film shoot.
"We haven't heard a thing," said a staffer with the Michigan Film Office, a state agency that works with Hollywood studios to scout and secure Michigan filming locations.
Critics widely applauded Eminem for his acting performance in "8 Mile," the 2002 film loosely based on his own life and directed by Curtis Hanson. The movie grossed more than $116 million and pushed Eminem to the front of Hollywood's most-wanted lists. One month after the film's premiere, the rapper was getting besieged by film offers, manager Paul Rosenberg told the Free Press at the time.
While promoting "8 Mile," Eminem told interviewers he was not interested in an acting career. By 2004, when he released the album "Encore" -- his final record as Eminem, associates say -- he had begun to warm to the idea, albeit with qualifications.
"I kind of want to finish my music thing first," the father of two told Rolling Stone magazine when asked if he would make more movies. "There was a point in time with '8 Mile,' doing the soundtrack, the score to the movie and 'The Eminem Show,' that I felt like I was really neglecting life at home. I'm busy, and I stay busy. But I want to remain in control of things where I can stay in the city and go home at night to my kids."
"Have Gun -- Will Travel" would be produced by Rosenberg and Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine, according to Variety, via Interscope-Shady-Aftermath Films, which Eminem helps finance.
"When this property essentially became available, we discussed it and brought it to Marshall and he was very intrigued and excited about the concept," Rosenberg told Variety.
In February 1999, Paramount paid more than $1 million for a script by veteran screenwriter Daniel Pyne, whose credits include "Any Given Sunday" and the remake of "The Manchurian Candidate." The script, designed as a prequel to the series, drew starring-role interest from Tom Cruise and Hugh Jackman.
A source with knowledge of the project says that some elements of that script might be retained for a contemporary version with Eminem as a bounty hunter with a mysterious past, but a complete revamp would still be required.
The input of Eminem and his management would be a decisive factor, but if a suitable director and writer could be attached and budget agreed on, the source says the studio would be eager to fast-track the production.Eminem, whose latest major public appearance was at the April funeral of Detroit rapper Proof, has been ensconced in a Detroit-area studio finishing production work on the upcoming album by Obie Trice, due in August.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/ENT01/606140336
The Detroit rapper born Marshall Mathers has his eyes on a starring role in a possible feature film based on the 1950s TV series "Have Gun -- Will Travel," a Hollywood trade magazine reported Tuesday.
Eminem handlers confirmed to the Free Press that Eminem is linked to the picture, to be financed by his own Paramount Pictures studio subsidiary, and said the project is in the development stage, with no production date scheduled.
If the film were to stick to the essentials of the TV series, Eminem would play a refined but street-savvy gun-for-hire named Paladin, who dresses in black as he hunts fugitives and other ne'er-do-wells. Unlike the CBS show, which aired from 1957 to 1963 and starred Richard Boone, a big-screen version with the multiplatinum rapper wouldn't be set in the Old West.
The film would be updated for the new millennium, reported Variety magazine, which broke the story. And it could be set in Detroit -- though that wouldn't necessarily translate to a Motor City film shoot.
"We haven't heard a thing," said a staffer with the Michigan Film Office, a state agency that works with Hollywood studios to scout and secure Michigan filming locations.
Critics widely applauded Eminem for his acting performance in "8 Mile," the 2002 film loosely based on his own life and directed by Curtis Hanson. The movie grossed more than $116 million and pushed Eminem to the front of Hollywood's most-wanted lists. One month after the film's premiere, the rapper was getting besieged by film offers, manager Paul Rosenberg told the Free Press at the time.
While promoting "8 Mile," Eminem told interviewers he was not interested in an acting career. By 2004, when he released the album "Encore" -- his final record as Eminem, associates say -- he had begun to warm to the idea, albeit with qualifications.
"I kind of want to finish my music thing first," the father of two told Rolling Stone magazine when asked if he would make more movies. "There was a point in time with '8 Mile,' doing the soundtrack, the score to the movie and 'The Eminem Show,' that I felt like I was really neglecting life at home. I'm busy, and I stay busy. But I want to remain in control of things where I can stay in the city and go home at night to my kids."
"Have Gun -- Will Travel" would be produced by Rosenberg and Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine, according to Variety, via Interscope-Shady-Aftermath Films, which Eminem helps finance.
"When this property essentially became available, we discussed it and brought it to Marshall and he was very intrigued and excited about the concept," Rosenberg told Variety.
In February 1999, Paramount paid more than $1 million for a script by veteran screenwriter Daniel Pyne, whose credits include "Any Given Sunday" and the remake of "The Manchurian Candidate." The script, designed as a prequel to the series, drew starring-role interest from Tom Cruise and Hugh Jackman.
A source with knowledge of the project says that some elements of that script might be retained for a contemporary version with Eminem as a bounty hunter with a mysterious past, but a complete revamp would still be required.
The input of Eminem and his management would be a decisive factor, but if a suitable director and writer could be attached and budget agreed on, the source says the studio would be eager to fast-track the production.Eminem, whose latest major public appearance was at the April funeral of Detroit rapper Proof, has been ensconced in a Detroit-area studio finishing production work on the upcoming album by Obie Trice, due in August.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/ENT01/606140336