Eight years after earning raves in acting debut "8 Mile," Eminem is set to return to the screen in another redemptive drama. DreamWorks has acquired the rights to "Southpaw," a boxing movie starring the rapper as a welterweight fighter who must overcome tragedy while fighting for the title, according to Deadline.com.

Kurt Sutter, the creator/executive producer of FX drama "Sons of Anarchy," has signed on to write the screenplay, which he says will draw upon the themes of Eminem's Grammy-nominated seventh album, "Recovery."

"He shared so much of his personal struggle in this raw and very honest album, one that I connected with on a lot of levels," says Sutter. "He is very interested in the boxing genre, and it seemed like an apt metaphor, because his own life has been a brawl. In a way, this is a continuation of the '8 Mile' story, but rather than a literal biography, we are doing a metaphorical narrative of the second chapter of his life."

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The film, which will be co-produced by Eminem's Shady Films managers Paul Rosenberg and Stuart Parr, will be the rapper's first on-screen role since he showcased his rise to hip-hop stardom in 2002's "8 Mile." The movie earned the rapper an Oscar for best original song in 2003 for "Lose Yourself."

Although no production schedule or release date has been set, Sutter says that he will begin writing "Southpaw" immediately and will complete a first draft of the screenplay by February -- the same month that "Recovery" may win Eminem his first Grammy for album of th eyear.

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