Eminem’s First Documentary Turns The Camera Back On His Fans

In this moment, when nearly every major musical artist has seen their life turned into a documentary, Eminem had held out, until recently. Despite years of offers, the hip-hop superstar consistently declined to participate in a traditional retrospective. But that streak ends with Stans, his first full-length documentary.

What finally got Eminem on board wasn’t a retelling of his past or even a cash advance. It was a shift in focus, from the artist to the audience.

Eminem’s Documentary: Years in the Making

According to longtime manager Paul Rosenberg, the idea of an Eminem documentary has been pitched countless times throughout the years. “We’ve been approached for a very long time from various platforms, studios, creatives, what have you,” he says. But a look-back didn’t appeal. “He feels like those are the types of documentaries that people do when they’re either at the end of their career, or it’s the kind of thing that’s done on you when you’re no longer here.”

Eminem doesn’t fit either of those descriptions, since he’s still charting big hits and releasing albums that become fixtures on the charts. He was open to a concept that didn’t try to wrap up his story, and he instead went with an idea that explores the culture that is still swirling around it. The genesis of what became his first major documentary ties back to a decades-old tune, “Stan.”

“Stan” and What it means Today

“Throughout the history of the evolution and cultural impact of the song, it just sort of never went away,” Rosenberg explains. “And the phenomenon of the idea of a stan just kept growing.”

For those who don’t know, Eminem released his single “Stan” in 2000 from his The Marshall Mathers LP. The track, which makes use of a Dido sample – and credits her – was not one of his biggest hits, as it only peaked at No. 51 on the Hot 100. The tune, which tells the story of an obsessed fan who takes things too far and becomes violent, has taken on new meaning in the past several years. These days, a stan is simply a zealous fan, though the negative connotations still persist.

Since Eminem coined the phrase, which is now used liberally among all fan bases in music, he and his team decided to make a film centered around the word, which was used as an interesting angle to essentially create content anchored to one of the most successful musicians of all time. Stans isn’t a typical cradle-to-present-day documentary, and it’s not entirely about a fan base. It’s something in between, and a new way of enjoying music’s stories on the big screen.

The Beginnings of Eminem’s Stans

Rosenberg and his team shot early footage and cut together a sizzle reel to show what Stans could be, years before any formal plans were made. That eventually led to a collaboration with Antoine Fuqua and director Steven Leckart.

Leckart says the pitch was clear from the start. This wasn’t going to be a standard bio-doc. A fan of Eminem since 1999, he approached Stans like he would a narrative film. “It was very clear what the doc didn’t want to be from the beginning,” he says, adding that while some would find such parameters limiting, he “just opportunity.”

Making Stans a Theatrical Experience

Inspired by the structure and intensity of “Stan” itself, Leckart proposed a visual style that played with reality. “I think we should shoot with a red curtain,” he said early on, suggesting a surreal, heightened approach that pulled viewers into Eminem’s constructed world and away from what is real. “We gave it this added cinematic element… to really pull you into this world and make you wonder what was real and what wasn’t.”

Once Leckart found out that the as-yet-unifished product was headed to theaters, he and his collaborators decided, “Let’s make a fucking movie.”

Deep Into Eminem’s Archives

Stans includes unseen footage, which will appeal to longtime fans of the superstar. Leckart had access to Eminem’s archive – which is “not like, a neatly organized vault,” Rosenberg jokes — and worked with longtime collaborators of the rapper’s to recover old reels, including original footage from the “Stan” music video.

“We just basically asked ourselves, if you could find something, what would you want?” Leckart explained. “And then let’s just try to find it.” That included previously-unshared footage from the original music video, which plays a major role in the lore of “Stans” and helped define its meaning decades ago.

The Fans – or are they Stans?

What makes Stans so interesting is the fans. The documentary features a number of Eminem’s most ardent supporters sharing their connections to him and his work, and what his songs have meant to them. They come from all walks of life, and they represent different factions of the rapper’s massive following – but whether or not they’re actually stans is something even they debate.

“It was very important to me to treat the subjects, who happen to be huge fans, with a tremendous amount of respect,” Rosenberg says. “And I think that the thing that Steven did so well is to find people who had not just incredibly touching stories, but were also very relatable and very likable.”

Reframing What It Means to Be a Stan

Over time, “stan” has become a shorthand — usually negative — for obsessive fandom. Stans pushes against that. “It would be a disservice to [Eminem’s] art and to his fans to make a film that didn’t feel like a massive thank you,” Leckart says. “This movie is a big thank you.”

Rather than linger in the song’s darkness, the film instead focuses on identity and how pop culture shapes social bonds. “The idea of a stan to me is just somebody who’s a huge fan of something — of anything,” Rosenberg stated. “You can be a stan of cheeseburgers, whatever it is. And I don’t really think that it has to be negative.” That’s not necessarily how the internet uses the word, but this is Eminem’s movie, and he can attempt to turn the word however he likes.

Eminem: Subject and Producer

Though Eminem is credited as both subject and producer, Leckart says the collaboration was smooth and that no part of it was overly sanitized. “It is the best interview I’ve ever done,” he says about the time he spent with the rapper asking him about some of the toughest moments of his life and career. “There were never moments where we stopped and talked about ‘what are we talking about and why are we doing this?’”

There are times when Stans feels like it is helping to recontextualize controversial statements from Eminem’s past or highlight only the best – when Elton John claimed he isn’t homophobic or glazing over violent lyrics, which have been called out for years, for example – but ultimately, it shows that whatever he does or says, there’s a fan base that will love it, no matter what. That’s really where the idea of stan becomes real.

After a short run in AMC theaters, Stans arrives on Paramount+ on August 26.