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Survival is key in the harsh lower depths
of Detroit, and for many, the current emotional life preserver
is hip hop. As an art form, rap music is impromptu and fast-paced,
topical and insightful, requiring skills of language, nuance
and keen observation, as well as emotional truth. For people
like Jimmy Smith, Jr. (Eminem), hip hop is the only thing
standing between him and the void.
In the absence of nurturing parents, Jimmy
and his friends – cool and charismatic Future (Mekhi
Phifer), optimistic dreamer Sol (Omar Benson Miller), aspiring
activist DJ Iz (De’Angelo Wilson) and slow but steady
Chedder Bob (Evan Jones) – have created their own family.
Jimmy and his “crew” (Three One Third), live on
hopes of “getting that big deal soon,” while struggling
to eke out a living at their dead end jobs and navigating
the minefields of their turbulent personal relationships.
As Jimmy so bluntly puts it: “we’re all broke as
shit and living at home with our moms.” At night, they
feed their dreams in the hip hop clubs of Detroit where the
city’s best rappers battle each other with emotionally
abusive rhymes as they vie for the respect of their peers.
In the un-poetic world of Three One Third, rhyme is wielded
like a weapon with words meant to wound. And victory belongs
to the quick-witted.
The world of Detroit’s hip hop clubs
is one that 8 Mile star Eminem knows well: “I remember,
if I lost a battle, it would be like my entire world was crumbling.
A lot of people would say, ‘What’s the big deal?
Get over it. You lost, try again.’ But I would feel like
my whole life was over. It’s competition. It’s like
a sport that is somebody’s whole life. It may look silly
to a lot of people, but to a lot of us, it’s our world.”
In 8 Mile, Jimmy has the skills he needs
to win. But he needs to find his voice and channel his anger
into his music. "My character, Jimmy, is really hot-headed,”
said Eminem, “which is how I used to be, and I guess
still can be at times. His emotion constantly gets the best
of him." But as Jimmy finds his voice, he also begins
to find his way and a will to pursue the new roads that will
take him beyond the boundaries he can no longer live within.
Fascinated by the hip hop world, producer
Brian Grazer had long been convinced that it had enormous
dramatic potential which had never been fully explored on
film. He was determined to develop a story that would bring
its power, energy and truth to the screen.
“I’ve been interested in hip hop
for more than 20 years,” explained the producer. "I
got introduced to the music of Slick Rick, who was this absurd
hip-hop artist who told perverse stories in his songs that
had humor and truth. That’s what made me want to discover
more about the roots of hip hop, how it works, what the lyrics
are relevant to. This was before it became a multi-billion
dollar industry.”
Grazer knew that for a film about this world
to work, it was essential to find the right rap artist. As
destiny would have it, Grazer's laser focus fixed on the brilliant
and controversial rapper Eminem at exactly the same time that
the rapper was searching for the right project in which to
make his motion picture debut.
Eminem and producer Jimmy Iovine had listened
to countless film pitches but nothing connected for them until
they met Grazer. According to Iovine, “We kept hitting
the ball and Brian Grazer was the first guy to hit it back.”
“I became interested in Eminem several
years ago,” Grazer remembered. “He wasn’t a
star at the time, but I felt he had enormous charisma and
that he could be explosive as a film star. I got him in my
office, and he just wouldn’t talk. He wouldn’t even
look at me. After about 15 minutes, he finally engaged. And
once I got him talking, he was fantastically articulate and
eloquent.”
With Eminem on board, Grazer engaged the
services of screenwriter Scott Silver, whose independent film
johns was imbued with a street-smart realism that impressed
Grazer as having qualities similar to what he was seeking
in 8 Mile. Noted Grazer, “Just as you don’t have
to appreciate boxing to like Rocky or Raging Bull, you don’t
have to be a hip hop fan to appreciate 8 Mile. It's about
human endurance, tenacity, getting into this world and surviving
it."
For director Curtis Hanson, 8 Mile was an
opportunity to once again explore a unique stratum of American
culture, to peel back its layers and take a look at people
struggling to find their way: "In 8 Mile, we are exposed
to a world little known or visited in film, or in mainstream
news coverage: impoverished America struggling to make it
legitimately in the recesses of the inner city. The people
in Detroit know 8 Mile as the city limit, a border, a boundary.
But for the character of Jimmy, 8 Mile is the psychological
dividing line that separates him from where he wants to be
and who he wants to be. If you think about it, we all have
our own 8 Mile.”
While the characters and plot of 8 Mile
are fictional, the world of Jimmy Smith Jr. is one that Eminem
knows well: “8 Mile separates the city from the suburbs.
To grow up as a rapper, to grow up on the Detroit side as
opposed to the suburban side gives you credibility. It’s
a big deal. And if you don’t listen to hip hop, you just
don’t care, it’s not a big deal to you. But if you’re
in it, let me tell you, it very much is.”
Eminem's motion picture acting debut began
with a six-week rehearsal schedule. “Curtis had a pretty
unique rehearsal process,” said Eminem. “I wouldn’t
say ‘unique’...I’d say ‘grueling.’
We rehearsed for over a month straight, of just doing the
lines and trying different ways to do them. It gave all of
us a chance to get to know each other … I don’t
want to sound corny, but Curtis is great at what he does.
He’s one of those directors who, when you think you know
how a scene should play, there’s always a way that he
will come up with that is different than what you thought,
and better.”
Hanson has nothing but praise for the rapper’s
acting debut: “Marshall gave me all a director could
ask for from an actor – enormous talent, focus, dedication
and a total commitment to the story we were trying to tell.
He came at the job with humility, respect and tremendous self-discipline.
No matter how difficult the circumstances, he was always determined
to do his best and to find the truth in every moment.”
In his quest to find the perfect actress
to portray Jimmy’s mother, Stephanie, Hanson turned to
Kim Basinger, who won an Academy Award®, Golden Globe
Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in
Hanson’s L.A. Confidential. Basinger readily accepted
the invitation. “It was a second gift to me to be able
to work with Curtis again,” said Basinger. “It is
the most sincere collaboration I have ever experienced. I
cannot think of anyone more talented or worth one’s trust
than Curtis Hanson, especially being the insecure artists
that we are, always in search of someone to believe that we
can do it with the right guidance. He’s so supportive
– a humble, beautiful person with the excitement of a
kid, a great friend and a little bit of a mystery – a
wonderful combination. I am thankful I know him.”
Hanson also reached out to a number of vital
young performers, who were all more than willing to reach
back. “I went in and met with Curtis a few times,”
remembered Brittany Murphy, who received critical praise for
her performance opposite Michael Douglas in the suspense thriller
Don't Say a Word and co-starred with Drew Barrymore in Riding
in Cars with Boys. “He was absolutely lovely. I loved
the story ... I thought it was representing a piece of our
nation that hasn’t really been shown on film yet, and
a great story about a young man with a massive amount of energy
trying to figure out what the outlet is for him to better
himself. I think that any performer would understand this
need. There’s a way to use all that energy as opposed
to letting it eat you alive, and that’s Jimmy Smith’s
struggle in the story.
“Curtis had a really interesting way
of going about rehearsals, and I loved what he did,”
Murphy continued. “In a way, I see him as a grand puppet
master ... he’s a very mysterious man. There was a beautiful
sense of everyone getting to know each other. Everyone truly
became friends and got to know everyone’s tics. To be
the only girl with all those silly guys was fun and crazy.
I would stay in after I had finished rehearsing my scenes
and watch their rehearsals, because it was just too much fun.”
Recalled Mekhi Phifer, who emerged as a
major film talent when director Spike Lee and producer Martin
Scorsese cast him as the lead character in their movie adaptation
of Richard Price's Clockers: “When they first told me
about the project, I wasn’t excited. I didn’t even
want to read it. I thought it was going to be a rapper movie,
and I’m not interested in doing that type of film. But
after meeting Curtis, I learned that 8 Mile is comedy, it’s
drama, it’s action, it’s multi-genre. It’s
about finding your own way, what really makes you happy, pursuing
your dreams and not letting your talent go to waste.”
The backdrop and rehearsal process swept
the actors into a kind of crusade for truth that brought art
and life together. “We came to this project with no false
pretenses,” said Phifer. “We came with our passion,
ready to work. We came to better the project and make it our
own. Rehearsals helped define our relationships. We changed
and enhanced the dynamics between the characters, making them
stronger and understanding their motivations.”
Hanson’s overriding goal throughout
production was to make the movie feel authentic: “I wanted
the movie to feel real. Natural. Almost documentary-like.
I loved exploring the world this story takes place in and
I wanted the audience to feel that they actually went into
that world, too.” His crew was chosen with this primary
mission in mind. In order to capture the reality he was seeking
and the authentic texture of Detroit, Hanson selected a group
of collaborators who straddle the line between independent
and mainstream cinema, including Mexican-born cinematographer
Rodrigo Prieto (Amores Perros, Frida), production designer
Philip Messina (Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic, Erin Brockovich),
costume designer Mark Bridges (Boogie Nights, Punch-Drunk
Love) and film editors Jay Rabinowitz (Requiem for a Dream,
Affliction) and Craig Kitson (Wonder Boys).
Prieto’s much praised work in Alejandro
Gonzalez Inarritu’s Amores Perros impressed Hanson with
its realistic depiction of life on the streets of one of the
world’s toughest urban environments, Mexico City. “After
doing period pieces like Frida and Original Sin,” said
Prieto, “I was excited to do another urban film more
in the style of Amores Perros. Curtis said that he wanted
8 Mile to look and feel ‘like a weed emerging from the
sidewalk.’ I really loved that image.”
“When I first read the script,”
recalled Messina, “my initial feeling was that it was
set in a world that was kind of alien to me. But Curtis made
it clear that we weren’t going to make a ‘rap movie.’
We were going to make a movie about a journey. Then I knew
that I could delve into a world that I hadn’t been exposed
to before, and try to make it really ring true. The most important
task, from the design point of view, was to make it real.”
While there were initial discussions about
shooting the film somewhere other than Detroit, these plans
were quickly rejected. Explained Brian Grazer: “It was
very important to make this movie in Detroit, particularly
for Curtis, who wanted it to feel as authentic as it possibly
could. And after seeing the film, you can see that it couldn’t
have been done in any other place.”
Making a movie in Detroit isn’t easy.
Making a movie in Detroit in the middle of winter is a challenge.
Nonetheless, the artists behind 8 Mile found themselves quickly
falling in step with the city. “Getting to know Detroit
was a revelation,” said Hanson. “Everywhere you
looked you’d see evidence of the city that used to be
– the city that promised a future to all who came there
and now appeared to promise nothing. It was the perfect setting
both visually and thematically for our story.”
For 8 Mile, Hanson and Prieto developed
a disciplined, yet free form approach to capturing the drama.
“When things aren’t perfect, it’s more spontaneous,”
said Prieto, “and that’s the way we approached the
photography. Curtis and I talked about the way these guys
live and how they do free-style rapping, and that’s the
way we shot it – free-styling, with a lot of improvisation.
We did almost all of it with hand-held camera. It gave freedom
to the camera, not confining it to a track or a tripod. You
can move around as things happen, with the camera adapting
to the situation and organic as to what the actors are doing.
We’re not doing complicated dolly or crane shots, and
generally not doing establishing shots of locations either.
We discover Detroit through the characters.”
The cinematographer added: “Curtis
has really been great. He listens to whatever we have to say,
as a team. He has his ideas about how he wants to do it, but
always asks for our opinion. And when he thinks it’s
correct, he’ll do it without hesitation. He has no ego
... it’s all about the movie and the end result.”
Production designer Messina was dazzled
by the multitude and variety of looks that Detroit offered.
The variety may be largely due to the unusual number of vacant
or recycled structures that remain as architectural reminders
of Detroit’s illustrious past. Office buildings from
the turn of the century stand empty and unused or in some
cases have been gutted and converted to condominiums. Churches
have become restaurants. Mansions dating back to the Model
T are now nursing homes or community theaters. This tendency
to incorporate and expand upon what came before rather than
raze and start completely anew is not only a Detroitism, it
is also a concept central to hip hop, where the use of beats
and samples from the music of the past is key. As Nelson George
notes in his book Hip Hop America, hip hop “is a postmodern
art in that it shamelessly raids older forms of pop culture
– Kung Fu movies, chitlin’ circuit comedy, 70’s
funk and other equally disparate sources – and reshapes
the material to fit the personalities of an individual artist
and the taste of the times.” Hanson and Messina decided
to build on this idea and showcase many of Detroit’s
structures that have had a past life, or in some cases lives,
reflecting how the city has struggled to survive and reinvent
itself over the years.
One example of this phenomenon is the Michigan
Theatre, which opened in 1926 and went through several incarnations
as a supper club, nightclub and finally, a parking garage,
which Messina described as “one of the most bizarre things
I’ve ever seen in my life. The theatre was literally
gutted from the roof down, with about a quarter of its proscenium
intact with tattered curtains hanging over it, and the rest
is a three-level parking garage. We really fell in love with
it and it became a key location.”
The filmmakers also found and then resurrected
the Chin Tiki in its original location, where it had closed
years before. “It was almost as if someone had just walked
away from it on a Saturday night,” recollected Messina.
“There were still liquor bottles at the bar, and matchbooks
out. The owner was there the night we were shooting, and he
was almost crying, seeing his restaurant bustling again and
filled with activity.”
Another key location is the “abandoned
house” where a little girl has been raped, prompting
its torching by Three One Third. While such acts of arson
are still a fact of life in Detroit, in 1995 they were epidemic,
with more than 4000 incidents reported, many of them on “Devil’s
Night,” a prelude to Halloween. “A lot of those
derelict and abandoned structures became drug zones and crack
houses, very dangerous for people in the neighborhood,”
explained De’ Angelo Wilson. “And the city wouldn’t
or couldn’t focus on the problem. So for my character,
DJ Iz, who sees himself as a political militant, burning the
house down isn’t fun… it’s a statement.”
For Jimmy, it’s an emotional turning point, prompting
him to reflect on the abandoned house’s previous incarnation
as a family’s home and, by extension, on the family life
he never had.
www.uip.co.uk
www.8-mile.com
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