Film & TV
Curtis Hanson
1945–2016 · film director, screenwriter, producer
Oscar-winning director who shot 8 Mile (2002) in Detroit, reworking the script to ground Eminem's story in the city's plants, radio and rap battles.
- Born
Reno, Nevada- Died
Los Angeles, California
aged 71- Birth name
- Curtis Lee Hanson
- Detroit years
- 2001–2002
- Field
- Film & TV
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Hanson grew up in Los Angeles and was best known for the neo-noir L.A. Confidential, which won him an Academy Award for adapted screenplay, when he took on a film about the Detroit rapper Eminem. Early drafts had little sense of place, with the hero working as a hotel bellboy, so Hanson rewrote the story around Detroit: he moved the character to an auto stamping plant, set it in 1995, and added the local radio station and the arson that marked the city's hard years. Shooting began in September 2001 in Highland Park and around Detroit, including the ruined Michigan Theater, now a parking garage. He cast many Detroit locals, and the name of the hero's crew, 3 1/3, grew out of rehearsals as a nod to the 313 area code. 8 Mile (2002) grossed about $243 million, and Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' won the Oscar for best original song.
Highlights
- Directed 8 Mile (2002), filmed in Detroit and Highland Park
- Reworked the script to set the story in a Detroit stamping plant in 1995
- Cast many Detroit locals
- 'Lose Yourself' from the film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song
- Won the Oscar for adapted screenplay for L.A. Confidential (1997)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 2001
Michigan Palace
Closed · 1926–1976
The gutted movie palace turned parking deck appears in 8 Mile; it is one of Detroit's best-known film locations.