Eminem’s movie has gone from having a generic “Project” title to one that encapsulates the projects.
The former “Untitled Detroit Project” is now “8 Mile,” a Universal Pictures spokesperson said Tuesday. “8 Mile” is the nickname for Detroit’s 8 Mile Road, which is considered to be the dividing line between the black and white communities in Eminem’s home city.
“8 Mile” will wrap production in January and is scheduled to hit theaters in July, according to the spokesperson.
The film, which is loosely based on Eminem’s life story, stars the rapper as Jimmy, a young man who learns to express himself through music and struggles to transcend his bleak circumstances.
Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy (“Don’t Say a Word”), Mekhi Phifer (“Shaft”), Eugene Byrd (“Whiteboys”) and Taryn Manning (see “Britney’s Pal, Eminem’s Squeeze – Taryn Manning’s Been Both”) also star in “8 Mile.”
Curtis Hanson, who worked with Basinger in 1997’s “L.A. Confidential,” is directing the film.
In 1996, Detroit filmmaker Gary Glaser directed an Emmy-winning documentary about the 8 Mile called “Borderline: The Story of 8 Mile Road.”
“No other road in Michigan evokes a response like the one you get when you mention 8 Mile,” Glaser wrote in a synopsis of his movie. “From topless dancers and the neighborhood groups that battle them to storefront preachers and the homeless people they minister, 8 Mile remains our area’s most notorious boundary.”