Eminem will play a boxer in new movie
The rapper - real name Marshall Mathers - is set to play the lead role in `Southpaw` which follows a fast-rising boxer who wins the welterweight world title, only to see his world come crashing down following a tragedy and his subsequent attempts to regain glory.
Kurt Sutter will pen the script, partly based on Eminem`s struggles with prescription drug addiction, which he documented in his recent album `Recovery`.
He told Deadline.com: "I took meetings with Marshall`s producing partners over the past seven years, looking for something to do together.
"I know he`s very selective and doesn`t do a lot. But he shared so much of his personal struggle in this raw and very honest album, one that I connected with on a lot of levels.
"He is very interested in the boxing genre, and it seemed like an apt metaphor, because his own life has been a brawl. In a way, this is a continuation of the `8 Mile` story, but rather than a literal biography, we are doing a metaphorical narrative of the second chapter of his life.
At its core, this is a retelling of his struggles over the last five years of his life, using the boxing analogy."
Explaining the title of the movie, which is slang term for a left handed fighter, Kurt admitted he drew parallels with Eminem`s career as a rap outsider.
He said: "I love that the title refers to Marshall being a lefty, which is to boxing what a white rapper is to hip hop; dangerous, unwanted and completely unorthodox. It`s a much harder road for a southpaw than a right handed boxer."
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