8 Mile [WS] [Uncensored Bonus Features] [Blu-ray]

Director: Curtis Hanson Curtis Hanson

Overview

Controversial rap star Eminem makes his acting debut in this hard-edged urban drama, inspired in part by incidents from the musician's own life. Jimmy Smith (Eminem), known to his friends as Rabbit, is a young man trying to make his way out of the burned-out shell of inner-city Detroit. Rabbit's entire life has been a hard climb, and it certainly hasn't gotten any easier lately; Rabbit has just been dumped by his girlfriend, forcing him to move back in with his emotionally unstable mother, Stephanie (Kim Basinger), and he's getting along especially poorly with Stephanie's new boyfriend. Rabbit has a factory job that's tough, demeaning, and doesn't pay especially well, and he's convinced his skills as a rapper are his only real hope at a better life. Rabbit makes music with a crew of DJ's and MC's who call themselves Three One Third, among them his close friend Future (Mekhi Phifer), but his status as a white kid making music in a predominantly African-American community and culture is extremely intimidating, and after Rabbit freezes up in the midst of an MC battle, he's convinced he's missed his chance and that he's doomed to lead a marginal life as a factory rat for the rest of his days. With the help of his friends, and his new girlfriend Alex (Brittany Murphy), Rabbit struggles to work up the courage and the confidence to take one more shot at making his dream a reality. 8 Mile was shot on location in Detroit; the name refers to 8 Mile Road, a thoroughfare along the city's perimeter which effectively separates the middle-class suburban neighborhoods from the lower-class inner-city.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/14/2009
UPC:	0025192006043
Original Release:	2002
Rating:	R
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:00:00
Sales rank:	20,384

Special Features

The Making of 8 Mile; Exclusive Rap Battles Uncensored; "Superman" Music Video Uncensored

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Eminem	Jimmy `Rabbit' Smith,Composer
Kim Basinger	Stephanie
Mekhi Phifer	Future
Brittany Murphy	Alex
Evan Jones	Cheddar Bob
Omar Benson Miller	Sol George,Actor
Taryn Manning	Janeane
Proof	Lil Tic
Michael Bell	Shorty Mike
Chloe Greenfield	Lily
Eugene Byrd	Wink
De'Angelo Wilson	DJ Iz
Anthony Mackie	Popa Doc
Larry Hudson	Bouncer
DJ Head	Battle DJ
Michael Shannon	Greg Buehl,Actor
Mary Hannigan	Mrs. Helgeland
Strike	Lyckety-Splyt
Nashawn 'Ox' Breedlove	Lotto
Na'Keya Snoddy	Papa Doc's Girl
Malik Barnhardt	Moochie
Day Golfin	Day
Allen Adams	Omar
Hom	First Parking Lot Rapper
Obie Trice	Second Parking Lot Rapper
Njeri Earth	Third Parking Lot Rapper
Jennifer Kitchen	Willing Girl
Kyla Womack	Alex's Friend
Melissa Zaglanikzny	Christine
Rockey Black	Rocky
Craig Chandler	Paul
Paul Bates	Manny
Miz-Korona	Female Lunch Truck Rapper
Xzibit	Male Lunch Truck Rapper
Abdul Salaam El Razzac	Joe Lee Patton
Steven Monroe	Plant Worker
John Smith Jr.	Lobby Security Guard
Venicia Foreman	WJLB Receptionist
Waverly W. Alford II	Big O
Bushman	WJLB Disc Jockey
Adam Brook	Roy Darucher
Brandon Jackson	Club Patron

Technical Credits

Scott Silver

Curtis Hanson	Director,Producer
Scott Silver	Screenwriter
Mali Finn	Casting
Carol Fenelon	Executive Producer
Gregory Goodman	Executive Producer
Brian Grazer	Producer
Jimmy Iovine	Producer
Jeff Imada	Stunts
John D. Milinac	Special Effects
Paul Rosenberg	Executive Producer
James Whitaker	Executive Producer
Danny Michael	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

The hip-hop generation gets its Saturday Night Fever with 8 Mile, director Curtis Hanson's searing, grimy look at the world of freestyle rap in mid-'90s Detroit and its most notorious progeny, Eminem -- or, more specifically, a rapper nicknamed Rabbit who happens to bear an uncanny similarity to the controversial superstar. The film seems tailor-made to deflect criticism of the media-hungry artist: The man otherwise known as Marshall Mathers is portrayed as a hard worker, doting big brother, and even friend to ostracized gay co-workers. And yet 8 Mile is no puff piece. Eminem's character is also hotheaded, insular, and, with his gray skull cap and headphones perpetually glued to his head, more than a little nerdy. Hanson and writer Scott Silver have managed to create such a vivid milieu, time period, and bank of supporting characters, a first-time actor can't help but succeed, and Eminem acquits himself well -- there isn't a moment when he's grandstanding or playing to the camera. Predictably, the women who orbit Rabbit's life -- including a defiantly cast but strangely appropriate Kim Basinger and an irresistibly tarty Brittany Murphy -- don't fare as well in the scheme of the plot, but they're at least understandably, three-dimensionally pathetic and/or two-timing. Tying it all together are the thrilling, incendiary freestyle scenes, which dovetail perfectly with the drama and underline the pitch-black insult humor that provides the burgeoning rapper -- and seemingly, just about everyone else in Detroit -- with his only real release. After its world premiere at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival, 8 Mile broke box-office records in the US when it garnered the second-largest opening ever for a drama.