Anthony Mackie, who played Papa Doc in “8 Mile” and Sam Wilson the Falcon in the Avengers franchise, shared a never told before story about his on-screen rap battle with Eminem.
He said in his over the phone appearance at The Rich Eisen Show, that his character development happened mostly on set, with him and director Curtis Hanson adding new traits and bits to Papa Doc’s story and personality.
Eminem also took part in this process, with the result forever imprinted in viewers memory:
One day we sit on a set and Eminem comes over and he’s like “What’s up man, I was reading a script and there is no reason for me not to like you, you are cool dude, I like you”. And then I said, “I like you too”. And then he was like, “So you don’t mind if I add some stuff about you?” I was like, “Well… About me or about the character?” He’s like, “No, no, just add some stuff in the script, you know, character stuff”. I’m like, “Yeah, no problem”. So he goes and before the entire battle, the final rap, he googles about me and learns this stuff. And he basically makes fun of me as Papa Doc. And then I’m like, “You’re a little personal there, Mr Marshall. Yeah, I grew up in a nice house. Yeah, my parents were nice to me. Why are you poking fun at me?!”
This initial reaction, this bewilderment was caught on camera and made it to the movie. Anthony Mackie tried to convince the director to give him a chance to respond but that was not in the book. So Marshall’s tactic to provoke a reaction from the actor exactly the way he would provoke it in a real rap battle paid off.
Watch the video below:
