Nearly two decades after making his Oscar-winning debut in 8 Mile, Eminem is hopping back into the acting game. Longtime friend 50 Cent helped break the news in a tweet on Tuesday (Aug. 17), revealing that Slim Shady will take to the small screen for an iconic Motor City role.
“Oh yeah i’m bringing the big dogs out, I couldn’t do a show based in Detroit without incorporating the legend @eminem,” Fiddy wrote. “Got him to play white Boy Rick in BMF, this s— is out of here.”
According to The Wrap, which broke the story, Em will guest star in the Black Mafia Family series on Starz, where he’ll have a cameo as WBR in an episode of the series produced by 50.
“I’m honored and appreciative of my good friend Em for supporting my new show BMF,” Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson said in a statement. “We couldn’t do a show based in Detroit without incorporating the legend that is Eminem.” Rick Wershe Jr., better known as White Boy Rick, ran drugs and guns for a Detroit gang as a teenage FBI informant.
He was the star of the 2017 documentary White Boy, as well as the 2018 film starring Matthew McConaughey, Richie Merritt, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Brian Tyree Henry. Wershe was eventually given a life sentence and arrested for cocaine possession before being paroled last June at age 50.
Eminem shot out of the gate with a career-making acting performance in 8 Mile and has been attached to a number of follow-up acting projects since. but other than a few cameos in the movie Funny People and the season seven finale of Entourage, he has not flexed his acting chops very much since his big-screen debut.
According to Starz, BMF was inspired by the real-life story of the Detroit-bred 1980s crime family headed by brothers Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest” Flenory. The network describes the series as a drama about “love, kinship and capitalism in the pursuit of the American dream.”
Meech will be played by his real-life son, Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr, with Da’Vinchi, Russell Hornsby and Michole Briana White rounding out a cast that will also feature recurring guest stars Snoop Dogg, La La Anthony and Serayah. The series is set to premiere on Starz on Sept. 26.
See 50 Cent’s announcement below:
