Todd Lieberman wanted Eminem in his 2010 film “The Fighter”.
Eminem was considered to be the first choice for Mark Wahlberg’s role in the 2010 movie “The Fighter”. Todd Lieberman, the film’s producer recently appeared on the Hollywood Gold Podcast, where he revealed that he wanted Eminem to play the lead role of Micky Ward.
“The first person that we thought would star in this film was Eminem,” Lieberman said. “Eminem was going to be Micky Ward. That was a moment in time where he had come off of 8 Mile, and he was interested in making movies, and he wanted to do a boxing movie.”
He continued, “So that was something we pursued for a minute. And there was real life in that for a minute.”
In a 2009 interview with DJ Whoo Kid, actor Mark Wahlberg revealed that he was considering Eminem as his co-star in the film. “[Matt Damon and I] were supposed to do this boxing movie together,” he said at the time. “We were going to play brothers and I don’t think he’s really feeling up to it so maybe we’ll get Eminem to play the part … We want it to kinda feel authentic as opposed to getting some soft Hollywood act.”
The biographical sports drama film was directed by David O. Russell, and also starred Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning the awards for Best Supporting Actor (Bale) and Best Supporting Actress (Leo).
According to Kirk Ewing, a friend of Sam and Dan Houser, the creators of GTA, an offer was made to them to sell the rights to a movie featuring rapper Eminem, which would be directed by the renowned filmmaker Tony Scott, for a whopping $5 million. Despite the tempting offer, the Houser brothers declined the proposal. “[The agent] said: ‘Kirk, we’ve got Eminem to star, and it’s a Tony Scott film. $5 million on the nose. Are you interested?’” Ewing recalled on the BBC’s Grandest Game podcast. “And I phoned up Sam and I said: ‘Listen to this. They want Eminem in the Grand Theft Auto movie and Tony Scott to direct.’
