The funniest thing about Seth Rogen and Jason Segel auditioning for the role of Cheddar Bob in the 8 Mile movie with Eminem was that both guys knew that they didn’t stand a chance in hell of getting the role since neither one of them felt right for the part. But they auditioned anyway, and it was about as bad as one can imagine since neither man looks or even sounds the part that was finally taken by Evan Jones. To their credit, both men realized that they weren’t cut out for it, but they made the attempt anyway, which is brave or incredibly dumb, or both. Kudos to the guys for trying to take on the commitment, but making it work wasn’t in the cards apparently since neither man could stop laughing when they were trying to read, which is why it turned out to be kind of a pointless endeavor.
Seeing Rogen or Segel as a sidekick to a Detroit rapper just doesn’t really sound right, and the fact is that they didn’t get the part since they excused themselves from the audition after trying not to laugh and failing miserably. Hey, at least they were having fun with it obviously, and had the good sense and manners to see themselves out of a situation that was probably bound to frustrate those around them. It is kind of amusing to think of why they went to the audition, but then one has to think that if an actor wants a part sometimes they actually to put in the effort and make it clear that they’re the right one to take. This wasn’t one of those times, but the hustle is still there since the guys did actually walk in trying to do something.
8 Mile was a rather gritty and even dark movie in some moments since the whole story of B. Rabbit, played by Eminem, was one of such utter hopelessness at times that the determination and continual forward movement that the character underwent was hard to watch since one had to wonder how he didn’t just give up at times. It’s a lesson to be certain since the story of B. Rabbit is one that can transcend rap and become something that would inspire pretty much anyone that paid attention since he might have wanted to give up plenty of times, but that was never an option and it showed. B. Rabbit went through hell during the movie since his girlfriend left him, he choked at a rap battle, which stays with a person no matter how they try to forget it, and he had to move back in with his mother in a trailer park.
Worse than that was the fact that his mother’s boyfriend was his age, and was someone he went to school with and was also mentally challenged. Rabbit also had to deal with his friends trying to get him to rap or cut a record and not respecting his desire to take things slow. His friends meant well as one can imagine, but sometimes friends need to learn how to back off a step as well and let a person handle their business. One thing that was great about 8 Mile was when Rabbit finally unloaded and ended up tearing apart his competition and himself when it came to the final rap battle in which he battled Papa Doc, who was played by Anthony Mackie. The final rap battle was absolutely brutal since Rabbit tore into Papa Doc’s life with what he knew about the guy and then ripped his own life to pieces so that Doc had nothing to go on, thereby robbing him of any and all power on the mic at that moment.
Rogen and Segel have both been a part of serious movies in the past, but this was one that would have felt awkward had either man been in there simply because with Rogen, one kind of expects a few funny quips now and then and a lot of overacting, while with Segel it’s about the same but on a different scale. It’s not necessarily a good thing to be thankful for a bad audition, but in this case, it was definitely something that needed to happen the way it did, since having either actor in the movie as Cheddar Bob wouldn’t have had the same impact as Jones did. Jones put in a performance that made Cheddar Bob look completely loyal but also kind of dim-witted, much as he had in a few of his roles. He played the role well though and made it appear as though he was doing his best to be the kind of friend that Rabbit could depend on, but was hopeless in just about every way possible. It’s fair to say that Segel and Rogen couldn’t have pulled that off.
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