Eminem to Star in Western Remake

Variety reports that Eminem will star in a big-screen remake of the TV classic Have Gun - Will Travel for Paramount Pictures. The studio is bringing back the 1950s Western series and revamping it in what it hopes will become a contemporary big-screen hit.

Paramount reportedly has an 18-month option to develop Have Gun - Will Travel as an action/drama starring Eminem. The producer will be Interscope/Shady/Aftermath Films. Eminem may also contribute to some portion of the soundtrack or score.

"Concept will be updated to contemporary times and see Eminem playing a bounty hunter. Setting could be Eminem's hometown of Detroit, but those details have yet to be worked out," says the Variety report.

John Travolta was once attached to star in a period pic based on the series but the project never got off the ground. This won't constitute the first contemporary, not-very-Western feature remake of this kind. Wanted: Dead or Alive, a 1987 follow-up to the old Steve McQueen series, starred Rutger Hauer as the descendant of McQueen's bounty hunter.

Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg claims Have Gun will be revamped from the original, with some characters based loosely on ones from the series, as well as nods to certain story points. Note the world loosely. In other words, don't look for Eminem sipping brandy in a cowboy hat, quoting Shakespeare and playing chess.

Eminem's box office appeal has already been established, as the rapper's major motion picture debut, 8 Mile, was a critical and commercial hit. However, the same formula hasn't translated to success for 50 Cent, whose Get Rich or Die Tryin' bombed last year, or another aspiring rapper/actor.