Eminem might be one of the most influential artists of his generation, but he still doesn’t see himself the way the world sees him.
In Stans, the new documentary directed by Steven Leckart, the spotlight shifts away from Eminem himself and onto the fans whose lives have been shaped by his music. From a woman whose letter recounts how “Mockingbird” kept her alive, to a fan with a Guinness World Record for Eminem tattoos, the film captures stories of deep emotional connection.
Steven Leckart and Paul Rosenberg talked to Billboard before the movie premiere, highlighting the personal connection Marshall felt to his fans, seeing them up close like this for the first time.
Watching these stories unfold hit close to home for Em. “I feel like I need to meet these people”, he said after seeing the film for the first time. Paul Rosenberg, who also serves as producer on the film, notes that the movie had a strong emotional impact not just on fans, but on Eminem himself:
I don’t know that there’s anything he learned that he didn’t know, generally, but… seeing all of that in one place was overwhelming.
The movie itself was 12 years in the making, Rosenberg says. They had been collecting behind-the-scenes footage and interviewing some of the fans they came to know over the years. The idea to centre the story around the fans was deliberate, since a traditional documentary about Eminem’s career did not appeal to him, according to Paul:
Marshall had been approached and still is approached on a constant basis about the idea of making a documentary on his career, and he’s always seen that as something that people do when they’re at the end of their career and are looking back, or it’s something that people do about a famous person when they’re no longer here to tell their story. He just didn’t see himself as someone who’s at that point in his career; he continues to make music, he continues to be relevant and working and wasn’t interested in that traditional, look-back documentary idea. So we’ve turned down a million things.
This one, though, was initiated from within the Em circle, built on over a decade of groundwork, and with a director they found through personal connections.
Director Steven Leckart says one of the most unexpected moments for him was how involved Eminem became in certain aspects, especially the segment dealing with Proof’s death and its aftermath:
It’s something so personal to him it would have been inappropriate for me to make the call, creatively. It’s a song that plays during the moment after Proof’s passed and we’re seeing all the photographs and everything. I originally used score (music) with all the lyrics coming up on the screen ’cause he’s written so many songs about Proof, and the very last lyrics are from “Arose” (from 2017’s Revival). It’s a powerful moment. It’s very personal. When (Eminem) saw an earlier cut of the film he felt strong that “Arose” should play over the whole sequence and had exact bars he wanted to play. That was the note: “I would like this song, and this specific spot in the song.” That’s an example of how collaborative he was.
The documentary blends new interviews with rare archival footage, including never-before-seen moments from the original “Stan” video and early battle tapes from Detroit’s Hip Hop Shop. For fans, it is a deep dive into the legacy of a career that is still evolving.
And it is evolving; there is no stopping Eminem. Rosenberg ended the interview with a message that gives fans reason to stay hopeful:
Marshall is a creative being. He’s constantly in the studio; his 9 to 5 has become going to the studio in the morning, is typically home for dinner, Monday through Friday. He’s creating whether he’s writing or making beats or messing around with stuff. He’s always making something. You can expect that to continue, and when he gets to a place where he feels like he’s got a body of work he’ll release an album. He’s working on stuff and there will be more music; I can’t say when because I’m not sure, but it’s coming.
Read the full interview on the Billboard website.
STANS premiered in New York with Eminem in attendance and is now playing in select AMC theatres worldwide. More distribution announcements are expected soon.
