Eminem can probably hold off on his weight lifting regimen for the time being: Dreamworks announced late last week that the company no longer plans to produce Southpaw, a boxing film featuring Eminem in his first starring role since 8 Mile. Dreamworks had recruited Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Fuller and Training Day's Antoine Fuqua to write and direct the film, respectively, but just eight months after green-lighting the film, Southpaw is back on the market for any other studio looking to get into the Eminem business, Deadline reports.
Southpaw was envisioned as a quasi-sequel to Eminem's 8 Mile, but instead of conquering Detroit's hip-hop scene, Marshall Mathers would star as a one-time welterweight champ with a sweet left hook looking to reclaim his belt. The boxing would just serve as a metaphor for Eminem's attempts to once again become rap's premier superstar after years spent in a drug-plagued seclusion. We accurately predicted that the future of Southpaw was cloudy at best when it was revealed that Eminem would star in another film called Random Acts of Violence just weeks after Southpaw was announced. Both films advertised themselves as Eminem's return to the silver screen; we guess Random Acts won the rights to that claim.
Given the outbreak of movies involving fists hitting theaters in past years and the coming months -- The Wrestler, The Fighter, Fighting, Warrior, and that Hugh Jackman movie about the giant sparring robots -- by the time Southpaw actually hit cinemas, the idea would have been played out. Southpaw might be down, but it's not out, however: Deadline writes that because Dreamworks' Cowboys & Aliens flopped, the studio probably didn't want to risk another failure, and that another production company could easily swoop in and revive this project as long as Eminem stays involved.
[Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com]