Several years go Eminem was being set up for a pseudo follow-up to 8 MILE, SOUTHPAW. Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutters was somewhat inspired by Eminem's life in the writing of the story and Antoine Fuqua (THE EQUALIZER, TRAINING DAY) soon became attached to direct. Well, it didn't quite work out as planned and in the end, Jake Gyllenhaal stepped in to play the left-handed boxer. Given his recent performances in PRISONERS and NIGHTCRAWLER, I'm willing to bet few people will miss Marshall Mathers in the lead role. While post-production is still underway for SOUTHPAW, it looks like Fuqua and Gyllenhaal got on well enough as they've signed up to do another picture together, THE MAN WHO MADE IT SNOW.
The screenplay by Brett Tabor and Michael Kingston is based on Max Mermelstein’s best-selling autobiography of the same name. The story follows Mermelstein, a Jewish hotel engineer, who ended up turning Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel into a billion-dollar enterprise. Fuqua is currently enjoying some modest success with the Denzel Washington vehicle, THE EQUALIZER, and will no doubt do the same with SOUTHPAW. The man certainly has a knack for pulling great performances out of his actors, so I look forward to the intensity him and Gyllenhaal will bring to these two pictures.
Antoine Fuqua is currently in post-production on SOUTHPAW which will have a 2015 bow.
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