Eminem To Star As A Welterweight Boxer In 'Southpaw'

(AllHipHop News) Rap star Eminem has successfully returned to the music industry with the year's bestselling release and now the 38-year-old has set his sights on the big screen, with a major role in the movie Southpaw.

Southpaw is being developed for Eminem and will feature the rap star playing a welterweight boxer who earns the title, but suffers from personal tragedy. The boxer must then fight his way back to the top and when the affections of his young daughter and according to published reports, the movie is being described as a continuation of his hit 2002 movie 8 Mile. Most of the script, which will be drafted by February, will be loosely based on Eminem's own life and music, according to Deadline.com. Southpaw is being penned by Kurt Sutter, the creator of FX's hit series Sons of Anarchy and will be distributed into theaters by Dreamworks.

"I took meetings with Marshall's producing partners over the past 7 years, looking for something to do together," Sutter told Deadline.com. "I know he's very selective and doesn't do a lot. But he shared so much of his personal struggle in this raw and very honest album, one that I connected with on a lot of levels. He is very interested in the boxing genre, and it seemed like an apt metaphor, because his own life has been a brawl."

According to Sutter, the movie will be a metaphorical narrative of the "second chapter" of Eminem's life. "At its core, this is a retelling of his struggles over the last five years of his life, using the boxing analogy," Sutter continued. "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." Allhiphop.com