Boxing Film “Southpaw” Being Developed for Eminem

More than eight years removed from Eminem's last starring film role, a film about a promising welterweight is being written by "Sons of Anarchy" creator Kurt Sutter as a vehicle for the rapper.

I took meetings with Marshall's producing partners over the past 7 years, looking for something to do together," Sutter told Deadline. "He is very interested in the boxing genre, and it seemed like an apt metaphor, because his own life has been a brawl. In a way, this is a continuation of the 8 Mile story...At its core, this is a retelling of his struggles over the last five years of his life, using the boxing analogy. I love that the title refers to Marshall being a lefty, which is to boxing what a white rapper is to hip hop; dangerous, unwanted and completely unorthodox. It's a much harder road for a southpaw than a right handed boxer."

It will interesting to see if Mathers, who has struggled with substance abuse, depression and all manner of demons in his life, will be able to screw up the discipline to get into boxing shape.

But his latest album, "Recovery," just scored 10 Grammy nominations, and it's sold more than 5 million copies, so maybe he's getting a handle on things. We'll see.

Sutter plans to have the draft completed by February, so as not to interfere with his plotting season four of "Anarchy."

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