It has been more than a decade since ‘The Fighter’ starring Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg. The film was not the regular boxing movie that provided us with a rags-to-riches story. It went deeper and unearthed layers of the familial dynamics of a losing boxing champion. Mark Wahlberg played Micky Ward and Christian Bale is Dicky, his half-brother. The film went on to do well and earn several accolades.
However, there were many screen tests and actors approached for the film before the final cast got locked. The film is directed by David O. Russell. However, ‘The Whale’ director was the first choice to direct the film. Even cast-wise, many names came up during discussions. Matt Damon and Brad Pitt were also approached to play the brothers. However, the producers also approached the Hip Hop extraordinaire Eminem.
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Eminem Was To Play Mark Wahlberg’s Character In ‘The Fighter’
Eminem has been considered an exceptional lyricist and performer. All of his colleagues from Jay-Z to the young roster of rappers like Kendrick Lamar agree with it. The rapper also dabbled into film space with a semi-autobiographical film ‘8 Mile’ in 2002. He played B-Rabbit, who is struggling at his home with his daughter and mother in a trailer aiming to be a lyrical king. However, he also got an opportunity to perform on screen in ‘The Fighter’.
The producer Todd Lieberman made an appearance on the ‘Hollywood Gold’ podcast. During the podcast, he revealed the ‘Kamikaze’ rapper was to be one of the leading men in ‘The Fighter’. The rapper was to star as Micky Ward. Todd said, “The first person that we thought would star in this film was Eminem. Eminem was going to be Micky Ward”.
He continued, “That was a moment in time where he had come off of 8 Mile, and he was interested in making movies, and he wanted to do a boxing movie. So that was something we pursued for a minute. And there was real life in that for a minute”.
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Mark Wahlberg Also Wanted The Rapper To Play A Part In The Film
‘The Fighter’ created quite a buzz at the box office and during the awards season. It collected $129 million. Christian Bale, who played half-brother Dicky, won ‘Best Supporting Actor’ at the Academy Awards 2011. However, another protagonist, Mark Wahlberg also wanted Eminem on board.
During an interview in 2009, Wahlberg, who also served as a producer on the film said, “[Matt Damon and I] were supposed to do this boxing movie together. We were going to play brothers and I don’t think he’s really feeling up to it so maybe we’ll get Eminem to play the part … We want it to kinda feel authentic as opposed to getting some soft Hollywood act”.
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