8 Mile
Movie poster of 8 Mile
Directed by	Curtis Hanson
Produced by	Curtis Hanson Brian Grazer Jimmy Iovine
Written by	Scott Silver
Starring	Eminem Kim Basinger Mekhi Phifer Brittany Murphy
Music by	50 Cent Jeff Bass Proof Luis Resto Obie Trice Xzibit
Cinematography	Rodrigo Prieto
Editing by	Craig Kitson Jay Rabinowitz
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	8 November 2002
Running time	110 min
Country	USA / Germany
Language	English
Budget	$41,000,000
Gross revenue	Domestic $116,750,901 Foreign $126,068,062 Worldwide $242,818,963
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

8 Mile is a 2002 Academy Award-winning film starring Marshall "Eminem" Mathers as the young white rapper Jimmy Smith Jr. Eight Mile Road is a road which forms the boundary between predominantly African American Detroit, Michigan and the city's mostly white northern suburbs. The term "8 Mile" therefore represents a barrier that is difficult to cross. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Curtis Lee Hanson (born 24 March 1945) is a film director born in Reno, Nevada, whose movies include: Losin It (1983) Bad Influence (1990) The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992) The River Wild (1994) L.A. Confidential (1997) Wonder Boys (2000) 8 Mile (2002) In Her Shoes (2005) Lucky... Curtis Lee Hanson (born 24 March 1945) is a film director born in Reno, Nevada, whose movies include: Losin It (1983) Bad Influence (1990) The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992) The River Wild (1994) L.A. Confidential (1997) Wonder Boys (2000) 8 Mile (2002) In Her Shoes (2005) Lucky... Brian Grazer (born July 12, 1951, in Los Angeles, California) is a Jewish-American film and television producer who founded Imagine Entertainment with partner Ron Howard. ... Jimmy Iovine was born on March 11, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York. ... Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known as Eminem, is an American Grammy and Academy Award Winning rapper, record producer, and actor from Detroit, Michigan. ... Kimila Ann Basinger (pronounced ) (born December 8, 1953 in Athens, Georgia) is an Academy Award-winning American film actress and former fashion model. ... Mehki Phifer was born December 29, 1974 in Harlem, New York. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For the U.S. currency value, see Half dollar (United States coin). ... Bass Brothers is the professional name for the team of Mark and Jeff Bass, the Detroit producers responsible for grooming rapper Eminem in his early days and collaborating on much of his subsequent music. ... DeShaun Dupree Holton (October 2, 1973 – April 11, 2006), better known as Proof, was an American rapper and member of the rap group D12. ... For Luis Resto the boxer, see Luis Resto (boxer). ... Obie Trice III (born November 14, 1977) is an African American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. ... Alvin Nathaniel Joiner IV (born September 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Xzibit, is an American hip hop performer, actor, and television personality who was born in Detroit, Michigan and was raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico by his father and stepmother. ... Rodrigo Prieto (born November, 1965 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican-American cinematographer. ... Jay Rabinowitz (1927-2001) served on the Alaska Supreme Court for more than 32 years and served four terms as Chief Justice. ... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 53 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This is a list of film-related events in 2002. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known as Eminem, is an American Grammy and Academy Award Winning rapper, record producer, and actor from Detroit, Michigan. ... A white rapper is a pop culture archetype of a white performer who raps. ... Eight Mile Road Exit off of I-94 8 Mile road overpass 8 Mile Road forms the boundary between the city of Detroit, Michigan (and Wayne County) and Detroits northern suburbs in Oakland and Macomb Counties. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Nickname: Motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (Latin for, We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes) Location in Wayne County, Michigan Coordinates: Country United States State Michigan County Wayne County Government  - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Area  - City  143. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Illustration of the backyards of a surburban neighbourhood Suburbs are inhabited districts located either on the outer rim of a city or outside the official limits of a city (the term varies from country to country), or the outer elements of a conurbation. ...

Besides Mathers, the stars of the movie include Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer, Omar Benson Miller, Eugene Byrd, Michael Shannon, Evan Jones, Chloe Greenfield, Taryn Manning and De'Angelo Wilson. Kimila Ann Basinger (pronounced ) (born December 8, 1953 in Athens, Georgia) is an Academy Award-winning American film actress and former fashion model. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mehki Phifer was born December 29, 1974 in Harlem, New York. ... Omar Benson Miller is an American actor. ... Eugene Byrd is an actor. ... Michael Shannon (born 1974) is an American actor. ... Evan Jones spent a part of his life in South Carolina, USA. He received his first part in the 1998 TV movie On the Line which also starred rapper and actor, Coolio. ... Chloe Linnea Ayla Greenfield (born July 7, 1995) is an American actress from Detroit, Michigan. ... Taryn Manning (born November 6, 1978) is an American actress and singer/songwriter of the band Boomkat. ...

Tagline: Every Moment is A Chance to Turn it Around.

Plot outline

The film begins with Eminem's character Jimmy "B. Rabbit" Smith Jr. at a local rap battle similar to the Rap Olympics and emceed by Smith's friend "Future" (played by Mekhi Phifer). A nervous Rabbit chokes at the mic and exits the competition. Battle raps are raps written about the idea of freestyle battles. ... Rap Olympics is a freestyle rap battling competition that was originally held in Los Angeles, California in 1997. ... Mehki Phifer was born December 29, 1974 in Harlem, New York. ...

After the initial scene at the music event, the movie focuses on Jimmy, a young sheet metal factory worker who is struggling with different aspects of his life. He has moved back in to the rundown 8 Mile Road trailer park home of his alcoholic mother Stephanie (Kim Basinger), his much-younger sister Lilly (Chloe Greenfield), and his mother's abusive live-in boyfriend Greg (Michael Shannon). Jimmy is focused on getting his music career started, but he seems unable to catch a break. Just prior to the events of the film, he ends a relationship with his girlfriend Janeane (Taryn Manning), and during the film, begins a new relationship with Alex (Brittany Murphy). Eight Mile Road Exit off of I-94 8 Mile road overpass 8 Mile Road forms the boundary between the city of Detroit, Michigan (and Wayne County) and Detroits northern suburbs in Oakland and Macomb Counties. ... King Alcohol and his Prime Minister circa 1820 Alcoholism is the consumption of or preoccupation with alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior interferes with the alcoholics normal personal, family, social, or work life. ... Kimila Ann Basinger (pronounced ) (born December 8, 1953 in Athens, Georgia) is an Academy Award-winning American film actress and former fashion model. ... Chloe Linnea Ayla Greenfield (born July 7, 1995) is an American actress from Detroit, Michigan. ... Michael Shannon (born 1974) is an American actor. ... Taryn Manning (born November 6, 1978) is an American actress and singer/songwriter of the band Boomkat. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

As the film progresses, Jimmy comes to realize that his life has remained largely the same since he was in high school. At first, he considers himself a victim of his circumstances and blames others for his problems. Over time, though, Jimmy begins to take responsibility for the direction of his life and realizes that he has a large degree of control over how his life will go. He begins to question whether his group of friends, including Future, are holding themselves back from moving on to bigger things. ("All we ever do is talk shit," he says.) With his onstage choke still fresh in his mind, he appears to decide that he will give up on or postpone his dream of a music career in favor of devoting more time to his day job and building a home life. Jimmy's newfound responsibility becomes evident to his supervisor at the factory as well. At the beginning of the film, when Jimmy requested extra shifts, his supervisor laughed at him, but by the end, Jimmy's improved attitude and performance earns him the extra work he had wanted. However, the late night shifts conflict with the next battle tournament, which Alex convinces him to go to. A co-worker whom Jimmy stood up for earlier in the film offers to cover for him, further indicating how Jimmy has earned greater respect.

The climax of the movie takes place at the battle. Rabbit's friends hype him throughout the film as an incredible rapper, but until this point the film only shows snippets of his skills. The tournament has three rounds, and in each of them Rabbit faces a member of the "Leadaz of the Free World", a group that feuds with Rabbit and his friends throughout the film. Rabbit wins both of the first two rounds with progressively more impressive freestyle raps. In the last round, he is paired against Poppa Doc, the tournament's most feared battler and Jimmy's main antagonist throughout the storyline. Rabbit is aware that Doc knows all his weak points, so he decides to address them preemptively with his freestyle. Rabbit acknowledges without shame his white trash roots and the various humiliations the Free World clique have inflicted on him. He then uses the difficult life he's had as a springboard to reveal the truth about Poppa Doc: despite passing himself off as a thug, he has a privileged background. Doc, whose real name is Clarence, attended Cranbrook, a private high school, and he lives in the suburbs with his parents. Rabbit makes a reference to Shook Ones Pt. II, the beat that the DJ is spinning, by calling Poppa Doc a "halfway crook", which sends the crowd into a frenzy. Doc is left with nothing to say in rebuttal, drops the mic, and Rabbit takes the title. West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg performing for the US Navy For information on rap music, see hip hop music. ... White trash is a derogatory term with a classist component targeted almost exclusively at non-Latino white people and connoting low social status or poor prospects (i. ... This article is about the private Pre K-12 school in the United States; For alternate uses, including other Cranbrook Schools, see Cranbrook (disambiguation). ... Shook Ones Pt. ...

As a final sign of his growing maturity throughout the film, Jimmy resists the pleas of his friends to go out and celebrate his victory, and instead he quietly walks off into the night to return to his shift at the sheet metal factory.

Debate about biographical nature

This article or section may contain original research or unattributed claims. Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the talk page for details.

There has been considerable debate, in the mainstream press, amongst reviewers, and other viewers, on the extent to which 8 Mile is semi-autobiographical, biographical, or totally fictional. This has been fueled by the fact that events and characters depicted in the movie appear to parallel events, and people, in Mathers' own life (as presented in the media and in various songs). Many reviews have suggested that the character Jimmy Smith mirrors Mathers as a young adult. Image File history File links Circle-question. ...

Other suggested parallels include but are not limited to:

• Rabbit's 3-1-3 (Three-One-Third) posse to D12's rap group.
• Rabbit's friend, mentor, and promoter Future to Proof, Eminem's real life friend. Proof hosted the battles in Detroit,^{[verification needed]} which Future does in the film.
• Future to Kon Artis, Eminem's friend and fellow D12 rapper. Future's real name in the movie is "David Porter", while Kon Artis's is Denaun Porter.
• Rabbit's little sister Lilly to Eminem's young daughter Hailie Jade Scott. Eminem's "Lose yourself" video explicitly connects Lilly to Eminem's daughter.
• Rabbit's mother to Eminem's real-life mother, Debbie.
• Rabbit's ex-girlfriend in 8 Mile to his real-life divorced, re-married and recently divorced again wife, Kim Mathers.
• Rabbit's rap battles in "The Shelter" to Eminem's participation in "The Rap Olympics." "The Shelter" is also an actual concert venue in downtown Detroit, in the basement of St. Andrew's Hall. "The Shelter" scenes in the film were filmed in a warehouse and not the actual concert venue as it was far too small to film in. Also, when the outside of St. Andrews Hall is shown, the sign for the venue is removed.

The suggestion amongst those holding such a view is that identities and events were changed in the film, and thus should be considered "biographical", or "semi-autobiographical" (given Mathers' role in the creative process). Some people holding such views have suggested changes of names and events were done to make civil lawsuits against Eminem more difficult. Others have suggested that names were changed along with a fictionalized, sanitized account of real events, designed to legitimize Eminem as an artist, and present him in a positive light. D12 (aka The Dirty Dozen) are an American rap group originating from Detroit, Michigan which have had albums reach the top of the US and UK album charts - Devils Night in 2001 and D12 World in 2004. ... Denaun Porter (born December 7, 1978 in Detroit, Michigan), known by the stage name Kon Artis, or the production title Mr. ... Hailie Jade Scott Mathers, born December 25, 1995, is the daughter of Marshall Bruce Mathers III (Eminem), a successful rapper, and his wife Kimberly Anne Scott. ... Kimberley Ann Scott Mathers (born Kimberley Anne Scott on January 9, 1975 in Warren, Michigan) is the ex-wife of Marshall Bruce Mathers III, a. ...

Eminem indeed says that Jimmy is not him but the story is semi-autobiographal. This allows Eminem to do more with the character of Jimmy than he could if it was solely based on his life.

Statistics

• Production Budget $41,000,000
• Prints and Advertising Budget $25,000,000

• Worldwide Gross: $215,300,000 (US Gross: $116,700,000)
• US home video revenue: $130,000,000

Soundtracks

Main article: 8 Mile (soundtrack)

• "Lose Yourself" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song

Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture 8 Mile is the official music soundtrack to the 2002 movie 8 Mile, starring Eminem, who raps on five of the tracks on this soundtrack. ... For the sense of losing oneself, see Flow (psychology). ... The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are songwriters and composers. ...

Parodies

• Robot Chicken showed a parody of 8 Mile with Bugs Bunny imitating Eminem (B Rabbit), Elmer Fudd as Poppa Doc, Porky Pig as the DJ, and Daffy Duck as Future.

• Eminem parodies this movie in the single and video for "Just Lose It".

• Dave Chappelle parodies the movie in the first season of Chappelle's Show.

• Scary Movie 3 parodied the rap battle scenes, but instead of the character "choking" he starts rapping while wearing a Ku Klux Klan-like hood.

• The Film was parodied on Late Night With Conan O'Brien by Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. In the sketch, titled 8 Nipples, B-Rabbit is played by Triumph, and Future, by O' Brien. Also parodied in the sketch was Eminem's song "Lose Yourself", By Triumph, called "Lick Yourself"

• The movie is also parodied in "The Simpsons" in the episode "Pranksta rap" when Bart is writing things on a sheet of paper.

Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created by Stoop!d Monkey and Sony Pictures Digital and produced by ShadowMachine Films, currently airing in the US as a part of Cartoon Networks Adult Swim line-up, in Britain as part of the Bravos Adult Swim... Bugs Bunny is an Academy Award-winning, street-smart, anthropomorphic, fictional gray hare, despite the name Bunny, who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Warner Bros. ... Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known as Eminem, is an American Grammy and Academy Award Winning rapper, record producer, and actor from Detroit, Michigan. ... The fictional cartoon character Elmer J. Fudd, now one of the most famous Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies characters, also has one of the more convoluted and disputed origins in the Warner Brothers cartoon pantheon (second only to Bugs Bunny himself). ... Porky Pig is an Academy Award-nominated animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ... Daffy, as Duck Dodgers, faces off against Marvin the Martian in the 1953 short Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, a parody of Buck Rogers. ... Just Lose It is a song by American rapper Eminem, released in 2004. ... David Khari Webber Chappelle (born August 24, 1973)[2] is an American stand-up comedian, satirist and actor. ... Chappelles Show is an American comedy television series starring comedian Dave Chappelle. ... Scary Movie 3 (2003) is an American comedy film directed by David Zucker and is a sequel to Scary Movie (2000) and Scary Movie 2 (2001); it was followed by Scary Movie 4 in 2006. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... Late Night with Conan OBrien is an American late night talk show on NBC, that is also syndicated world-wide. ... Best of Triumph DVD Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is a puppet created and performed by Robert Smigel premiering in 1997 on NBCs Late Night with Conan OBrien. ...

Trivia

• The movie featured 200 usages of the word "fuck", according to the Family Media Guide (see: List of films ordered by uses of the word "fuck").

• In the beginning of the movie, when Rabbit is in the bathroom, the beat from Mobb Deep's Shook Ones Pt. II is played. It is also the beat used in the final rap battle between Rabbit and Papa Doc.

• When Eminem battles Lotto at the end of the movie, the beat is from the Onyx song Last Dayz.

• The film features cameos from Obie Trice, Xzibit, and Proof.

• Sara from MTV's popular series Making The Band 2 has a cameo towards the end of the movie. She can be seen in the background during the last rap battle in the movie as Jimmy and Poppa Doc compete.

• During scenes that there were televisions in the background, it was always playing the music video of "Method Man" By the Wu-Tang Clan.

The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... Mobb Deep, also known as The Infamous Mobb Deep, is a hip hop duo made up of Havoc and Prodigy. ... Shook Ones Pt. ... Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz. ... Obie Trice III (born November 14, 1977) is an African American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. ... Alvin Nathaniel Joiner IV (born September 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Xzibit, is an American hip hop performer, actor, and television personality who was born in Detroit, Michigan and was raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico by his father and stepmother. ... DeShaun Dupree Holton (October 2, 1973 – April 11, 2006), better known as Proof, was an American rapper and member of the rap group D12. ... MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network headquartered in New York City. ... Making the Band is an ABC/MTV reality television series that exists in separate iterations, each iteration focusing on a specific music act. ... Look up Jimmy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

See also

• Eight Mile Road, also known as M-102

Eight Mile Road separates the city of Detroit, Michigan and its northern suburbs. ... M-102 is a highway in the U.S. state of Michigan, running along the northern boundary of Detroit. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

8 Mile

• Official website
• 8 Mile at the Internet Movie Database
• Roger Ebert's review of 8 Mile
• James Berardinelli's review of 8 Mile
• 8 mile review on Tiscali
• Analysis of 8 mile through the lyrics of the songs