The Untold Truth Of 8 Mile

There are many similarities between Eminem's own life and the life of his "8 Mile" character, Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr. This is because the script was developed with Eminem in mind and because he met with the scriptwriter Scott Silver while it was still being written, according to The Guardian. It all started when producer Brian Grazer had an idea for a hip-hop film. "I was looking to make a movie about hip-hop that, like 'Saturday Night Fever' did, really puts you in that world," Grazer told Rolling Stone in 2002. "I randomly saw Eminem on MTV, and in the span of six or seven seconds, he goes from this icy, urban, scary glare to this fluid, self-effacing, kind of fun character. I had to meet him."

Beyond that initial meeting with Silver, Eminem wasn't involved with the script, though Silver drew inspiration from the artist's life. The film is about an aspiring hip-hop star from Detroit, which mirror's Eminem's start. Like Eminem, B-Rabbit has a tumultuous home life and a strained relationship with his mother, but unlike the character he plays, Eminem was a short-order cook and not a factory worker. Certain characters are based on real people, such as Mekhi Phifer's Future, who's based upon Eminem's friend Proof, but others, like Brittany Murphy's character Alex, are purely fictional.