Trivia / 8 Mile

• Actor-Shared Background: Papa Doc shares his background with Anthony Mackie: he grew up middle class, went to a private school, and his parents stayed married and in love.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: Not that the movie itself wasn't popular, but "Lose Yourself" is still a routine pick for Em's best song to this day while the film is mostly seen as a product of its time. What's more is that "Lose Yourself" was both his first US number one, and the first rap song to win an Oscar.
• California Doubling: While filmed in Michigan, where it was set, scenes in The Shelter club had to be filmed in an abandoned warehouse because the real club looked too nice.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Proof was originally supposed to play Future, who is an Expy of him. They then decided to cast a more experienced actor, and Proof was given the smaller role of Lil' Tic. Taryn Manning was going to play Alex but ended up playing Janeane instead.
• Creator Backlash: Eminem was unused to acting as the lead in a feature film, and the role was especially demanding for him. At the end of the shoot, he responded to a question on how it went with "never again". And indeed, aside from cameos, he never played the lead in a film again (although he was initially going to star in Elysium, only backing out when filming couldn't be done in Detroit).
• Dyeing for Your Art: Eminem lost twenty-four pounds for the role. He also dyed his famously bleached blond hair to black at the request of the director, so that people would see him as Jimmy and not Eminem.
• Enforced Method Acting: Papa Doc's reaction when B-Rabbit rips him apart during the rap battle is genuine and ends up being this due to his Actor-Shared Background with Anthony Mackie and the fact that Mackie was completely unaware that Eminem had researched him for the material used in his rap.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: Eminem improvised and changed his lyrics in the battle rap scenes, which threw off the other rappers.
• Method Acting: Eminem supposedly remained in character for most of the shoot, to make it easier to distinguish Jimmy from himself. And in interviews, he repeatedly insisted he was not playing himself.
• Missing Trailer Scene: One of the trailers for this movie shows Jimmy telling his friends that, if something's gonna happen, it needs to happen. This was not said in the theatrical release of the movie.
• Playing Against Type: Brittany Murphy eventually recalled that she was normally only ever cast as "cute or crazy", and it was rare for her to play a more sexual and determined character like Alex. Indeed, she had to audition three times before she was cast.
• Reality Subtext: The sheet of paper that Jimmy writes on while riding the bus is the real paper that Eminem used to write "Lose Yourself".
• Referenced by...: "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Couch Potato" is a parody of "Lose Yourself".
• Release Date Change: The film's release date was pushed back from July 8, 2002 to November 8, 2002.
• Romance on the Set: Eminem was reportedly romantically linked with Brittany Murphy and Kim Basinger during filming. Brittany confirmed the reports that she and Eminem dated (he said nothing). Eminem denied the reports that he and Kim dated (she said nothing).
• Star-Making Role: Although she had fame from Clueless and Girl, Interrupted, Brittany Murphy was considered more of a character actress at this stage. 8 Mile led to her being cast as a lead more often.
• Stillborn Franchise: The film Southpaw was originally imagined as a direct sequel with Eminem reprising his role - now as an out-of-luck boxer trying to regain custody of his daughter. Along the way, things changed and the script was reworked into the Jake Gyllenhaal film it became, with Eminem staying on to write the soundtrack. Interestingly, Roger Ebert said in his review that he would be interested in seeing a sequel showing Rabbit entering the music industry.
• Underage Casting: Michael Shannon, who plays Greg, Rabbit's mother's abusive boyfriend, is actually almost two years younger than Eminem. Not that Greg couldn't be that age too of course.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Quentin Tarantino was very interested in directing, but was too busy with Kill Bill. Danny Boyle was also considered as a potential director, but he was busy with 28 Days Later.
  • An early draft of the script had Jimmy working as a bellhop in a hotel, and having issues with his boss.
  • Eliza Dushku, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Christina Ricci and Alicia Silverstone were considered for Alex.
  • Giovanni Ribisi was, at one point, slated to star as Wink. He priced himself out, (meaning he asked for too much money and was turned down), and the part was recast.
  • Gary Sinise was the original choice to play Greg.
  • Seth Rogen and Jason Segel later revealed that they were both auditioning for the role of Cheddar Bob and the casting director had asked actors to bring someone with them to read in for Jimmy's lines (being uncomfortable with reading them herself). They did their auditions together and couldn't stop Corpsing as a result.
    "I can't remember who they cast for that role in the end, but he did a better job than we would have."
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Eminem had very little time to work on "Lose Yourself" while shooting the film and used any given opportunity to have a pen and paper in front of him to scribble down lyrics. In some cases, he was writing as he was being filmed, such as Jimmy's ride home on the city bus after his first rap battle.

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