Television host, radio personality, producer, and television personality Carson Daly, who was a VJ on MTV’s Total Request Live (TRL) from 1998 to 2003 and a DJ for the Southern California-based radio station 106.7 KROQ-FM, was stopped by Billboard’s Tetris Kelly on the red carpet of the 2024 Emmy Awards. During the short conversation, Tetris asked the Santa Monica, California-born media legend if he had the chance to do TRL again, who he’d like to be his co-host.
“I have to say Marshall,” he said. “Because Em was there from the beginning and I saw him just the other night at the VMAs, I had been at the VMAs for years, I don’t think he’d been in a while and seeing him with all the Slim Shadys that really brought me back and we have great history and being such a fan of his beginning of the career, how it all happened at MTV, if I was to go back and do the show, it wouldn’t be right without having him there.”
Actor Mekhi Phifer, who played Future in Eminem’s 8 Mile movie, also talked about Slim Shady during his interview on the red carpet. “I worked with Eminem. When I worked with Eminem on 8 Mile, he was extremally serious and I appreciate that about him.”
Mekhi Phifer, who played Future in Eminem‘s ‘8 Mile’ movie, has recently joined Rich Eisen on his show where he dished the dirt on making ‘8 Mile’, his time on ‘ER,’ and landing his first-ever role in Spike Lee’s ‘Clockers’ in a round of ‘Celebrity True or False.’
“Yes, I almost turned down the role in 8 Mile because of ER TV show. To my agent I turned it down. And then they were like ‘no, you are not turning this down’ because I was due to start ER. ER was already a mega show. I was joining at the end of season 8, last couple of episodes and I really wanted to play a doctor. ER had all them Golden Globes, the Emmys and 9/11 had just happened. So, people were scared to fly. I’m New Yorker, I saw what happened to the towers. I did know Curtis Hansen work, LA Confidential and Wonder Boys and all of that, great great great director, rest in peace.” said Mekhi Phifer.
Then he continued: “They flew my out to Detroit and I met with Eminem. We spent few days together and chopped it up. It was great. We hit it off immediately. I saw how serious he was. They could not give me the script. I had to read the script in Curtis’ office because they were being so hush hush about it. I loved it. But it was not what you see on the screen. I knew I could bring some nuance to it and something different, certain energy and certain spirit so…Then ER’s John Wells said go do the movie and soon as you finish the movie, you come and start ER. I rep the movie and the week later I was on ER set. I’m glad I did it. I mean, Eminem threw my name in the song and won an Oscar. It was the most popular downloaded songs ever. ”
“I was surprised when he included my name in ‘Lose Yourself.’ We were shooting one day. Eminem had three trailers. He had one trailer to sleep and stuff like that. He had a studio trailer because he was doing his album and the soundtrack at the same time. And he had a gym trailer to work out. And around two in the morning, we are shooting one night and he came back to the set and said ‘Yo, Mekhi, after this take I wanna take you to the studio. I want to put your name in the song. We all went to the trailer and he played the song and it was raw. It was not mastered or mixed. We got to the party like ‘there’s no movie, there is no Mekhi Phifer’ and everybody erupted. I didn’t know it was gonna be…I didn’t know 8 Mile was gonna be 8 Mile. And I didn’t know the song was gonna be as impactful.”
“He told me if I put your name on a song, is that cool? I said ‘hell yeah! that’s cool!’ because back then Eminem was crushing people with…you know, he was killing people if he put your name in the song, usually it’s not good. It ends your career. He smack you around with his lyrics. So, I was very proud of that and very appreciative of him making me a part of that in a bigger way than was initially it was gonna be.”
“My stuff during battle scenes were totally ad-lib. All of the stuff that I said on stage cause that was not on the script. All of my instructions to the rappers, all of my audience participation, all of that was ad-lib. They wrote their rhymes because they had to have rhymes written because of continuity. But my stuff was totally ad-lib. ‘DJ, spin that s–t!’ all that stuff was ad-lib and the reason I said ‘DJ, spin that’ is because I forgot the guys name [laughs]. I don’t remember his name but he was a very good DJ. Shout out to Detroit, I’m sure he’s favorite in Detroit.” Mekhi Phifer added.
Mekhi Phifer has recently sat down on Cruz Show to talk about his Apple TV+ show called “Truth Be Told.” He also spoke about having an unfinished album from the 90’s, almost passing on 8 Mile role and more, Plus, Lechero also tells a hilarious story about how Mekhi helped him get some action.
At one point during the interview, Mekhi Phifer was asked to recall never before heard story about Eminem’s box-office topping movie 8 Mile. “When we did 8 Mile, that was back in 2001, when we were shooting and it was released in 2002,” he said. “When we shot it, we were all single men, Eminem was at height of his career, we are shooting in Detroit, in his hometown, he was the biggest rapper at that time. Period. And we had fun in Detroit. I’m not going into detail. I don’t need to. But the thing is, we had a great time. Camaraderie was real.”
Then he continues: “I’ll tell you quick story. I initially turned down 8 Mile. Because, my agency man called me like ‘look, Curtis Hanson is directing this movie 8 Mile.’ I love Curtis Hanson. He done L.A. Confidential, Wonder Boys, excellent director. And they said ‘yes, the movie with Eminem.’ I said ‘c’mon man, now you playing games.’ Because I loved his music but I never seen him act before. I think all I saw was The Wash movie where he had a quick cameo.”
“They would not release the script. It was hush-hush. So my agency convinced me ‘please just go Curtis’ office and read the script. I read the script and loved it. I was like ‘this is actually really freaking good.’ Then they flew me to Detroit. I hang out with Eminem for few days and we just hit it off. I didn’t know he was a fan of me. I was fan of his too. I saw how serious he was about really putting together something really nice and I camaraderie because I’m basically loosely playing Proof. That’s why I had those crazy dreads. Because when Proof was hosting those battles in 1995, he had those dreads. They offered me the role. I went down and we had month of rehearsal. By the time we started shooting, I knew the whole script. There was nothing to really study. So, it was party time. And we were at our 20s, forget it… It was going down!”
TMZ has recently caught up with the “8 Mile” star Mekhi Phifer shortly after the classic hip-hop battle movie marked its 20th anniversary in 2022. The interviewer asked if there was anything in the works for a new story related to the OG characters of the film and here is how he replied:
“Second part? Sometimes it’s best to leave at one. Sometimes it’s best to leave it alone, once you make a classic, there is no reason to fool around with it. There has not been any conversations about it and it might never happen. Leave the classic alone and it will all be good. Just live with the 8 Mile. It might be interesting what happened next but the story that we told it was all good. I would not be in it. I’m sure Eminem would be in it either.”
Then interviewer asked him if he’s in contact with Em and what’s his favorite work done by Eminem, on which he replied: “I talk to him yeah. About his music. His best work of all time? It’s hard to say. He has done so much great things, so many great things.”
You can watch the video below:
Couple of months ago, the producer Mike WiLL Made-It suggested the Detroit legend to make the sequel 8 Mile movie.
“Eminem needs to do 8 Mile 2. His story when he got the deal and s–_ went up…” – tweeted the Grammy-award winning producer.
Eminem need to do 8 Mile 2… his story when he got the deal & shxt went up..
8 Mile is a critically acclaimed film with a massive commercial success. It opened at No. 1 in the United States with $51.3 million grossed in its opening weekend and an eventual total of $242.9 million in box office worldwide.
