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50 Cent Says Eminem Stayed Out of Hollywood After 8 Mile Because He Wouldn’t Give Up Control
50 Cent says Eminem passed on more acting after 8 Mile because film meant giving up the control he has in music.
By the time 8 Mile turned Eminem into a bona fide movie star in 2002, it had already done the kind of business that keeps a rapper’s name attached to Hollywood for years. The film pulled in more than $240 million worldwide and won Eminem an Oscar for “Lose Yourself”. But he never really turned that success into a full acting career, and 50 Cent says he understands exactly why.
Speaking to GQ in an interview published Thursday, July 30, 50 reflected on his own 2005 semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and the difference between making music and making a movie. For him, the issue was simple: once a film is in motion, the artist is no longer the one calling every shot.
“I said, ‘I wanna do a movie,’” 50 explained. “Then, when we got into it, it was really no control. So, this is why they couldn’t get [Eminem] back after 8 Mile, because he can control things when we work on music in the studio. It’s not ready until we say it’s ready. We can do it and do it over or, you know, it doesn’t matter. ‘Til it’s perfected. Now, you’re just someone on a team of people that can make a great project. And then there’s a whole cast.”
That logic tracks with the way Eminem has handled his career since. After 8 Mile, the Detroit rapper largely stayed where he was most comfortable, with music, only popping up in a handful of cameos over the years rather than chasing a bigger screen career.
50, meanwhile, moved in the opposite direction. After Get Rich or Die Tryin’, he kept taking acting roles and eventually became one of the entertainment business’s more formidable television producers, thanks in large part to the Power franchise and a growing slate of film and TV projects.
