EXCLUSIVE: If you’ve ever heard someone say they “stan” a certain celebrity – like a ride of die for their favourite famous person – you have Eminem to thank for it.
The rapper’s November 2000 single Stan, about an obsessed fan writing letters to a star, brought the term to describe fandom into the vernacular and then, in 2017, it entered the dictionary.
In the 25 years since coining the phrase, Eminem – whose real name is Marshall Mathers III – has had a raft of personal highs and lows but credits his fans with keeping him alive, through bouts of addiction and rehab.
READ MORE: King Charles gets unexpected gift from OC star
The Without Me rapper is now shining a spotlight back on those fans in the upcoming documentary Stans, which also serves as a reminder about his lasting impact on the music industry.
The 145-minute feature shares insights from a variety of fans from across the world – including some famous ones, such as Ed Sheeran and Adam Sandler.
They all discuss why they were drawn into the music and the difficulties they’ve faced which make the lyrics relatable for them.
Director Steven Leckart, who started working on the film in 2020, said the casting of the fans was a particular focus for the team and took four months to complete.
READ MORE: Sydney Sweeney makes bombshell red carpet debut as a single woman
“It was a real slow but really deliberate process,” he tells 9honey Celebrity on the blue carpet at the world premiere in London.
“We really wanted people who didn’t feel one note.
“So we wanted people who, like Eminem’s music, they had that sense of humour, they had a sense of irreverence, a sense of self-awareness but they’re also people who have lived through some very difficult things that they could speak to that also mapped onto the art, so that was always our guiding light.”
The production team put out an online call and received 9000 video submissions within a matter of months.
For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.
“There were certain people who came kind of almost out of nowhere and then there were certain people that we went looking for,” Leckart recalls.
“So the woman, who in the film does fan-fiction, we went looking for a fan-fiction person because we felt it was important to show and reflect multiple ways that fandom is expressed. And so that was one where we were super targeted.”
The documentary, which is produced by Eminem’s Shady Films, is set to be released later this year but had it’s world premiere as part of SXSW London this week.
A whole host of lookalikes posed for the cameras, including world famous Zolt Shady, who features in the film and talks about meeting the rapper in his home country of France.
Mathers also appears in Stans reflecting on the meaning behind certain hits, speaking to controversies caused by some of his lyrics and how fame impacted him.
“I can’t really speak to what it is to be a famous person,” Leckart tells 9honey Celebrity.
“I think the movie does a really good job showing what the downsides are to fame, and I feel like the movie speaks for that pretty well.”
READ MORE: Tom Hanks speaks out on daughter’s bombshell memoir
Forbes reveals the top ten highest paid musicians of the last decade
In the documentary, Eminem returns to the site of his childhood home in Detroit, which was also the setting for his 2002 biopic 8 Mile.
It’s now a garden after the home was condemned and demolished in 2013 but that doesn’t stop fans visiting and making the pilgrimage.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.
