Detroit rapper Eminem will return to the big screen in a remake of the classic television series Have Gun – Will Travel.
The Grammy-winning lyricist will star in the Paramount Pictures film, which will offer a contemporary spin on the 1950’s Western series that starred Richard Boone.
The setting could be Eminem’s hometown of Detroit, but those details have yet to be worked out, Variety reports, adding that Paramount has an
18-month option to develop Have Gun as an action drama for Eminem.
The new movie will be “revamped from the original, with some characters based loosely on ones from the series as well as nods to certain story points,” Paul Rosenberg, Eminem’s manager told Variety.
Although the rapper will be cast as a bounty hunter, it’s unlikely the character will mirror Boone’s Paladin, a brandy-sipping, Shakespeare-quoting, chess player.
Interscope/Shady/Aftermath Films will produce the film and Eminem may contribute to some portion of the soundtrack or score.
The acquisition of Eminem is the newest development in the quest to bring Have Gun to movie theaters.
John Travolta was once attached to star in the film, which had long been developed as a period piece.
Have Gun – Will Travel joins 1987’s Wanted: Dead or Alive on the list of contemporary remakes of classic TV westerns.
That film, a revision of the old Steve McQueen series, starred Rutger Hauer as the descendant of
McQueen’s bounty hunter.
Have Gun is Eminem’s second foray in to the world of motion pictures.
The rapper’s first movie, 8 Mile, earned him an Academy Award for Best Song for the track “Lose Yourself.”
