Eminem is rolling back the years to play real-life teen drug dealer White Boy Rick in 50 Cent’s upcoming Black Mafia Family series.
The “In Da Club” rapper, who is executive-producing the series for U.S. network Starz, announced earlier this week the “Slim Shady” star, real name Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is joining the show, about a drug trafficking and money laundering organization based in Detroit, Michigan in the 1980s.
50 shared more details about the casting on Thursday at the Television Critics Association 2021 Winter Press Tour.
“Really, it was (showrunner) Randy (Huggin)’s idea to get Marshall to come out to play White Boy Rick,” he said. “I wasn’t sure I could make it happen.”
Eminem, who is now 50, will be digitally de-aged to play the teenager who turned undercover FBI informant. Snoop Dogg will also star as a shady pastor.
“We used the same technology that Martin Scorsese used in ‘The Irishman’ to get him back to his teenage years as White Boy Rick,” 50, real name Curtis James Jackson III, added.
It will be the first major acting role for the Eminem since 2002’s “8 Mile.”
But fans will have to wait a while – Eminem’s character won’t appear until the seventh episode of the series’ eight-episode first season.
Demetrius Flenory Jr. will make his acting debut as his father, Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory, while Da’Vinchi will play his brother, Terry “Southwest T” Flenory.
A 2018 biopic film, “White Boy Rick,” starred then-17-year-old Richie Merritt as the young drug dealer with Matthew McConaughey as his father.
“Black Mafia Family” debuts on September 26.
