Producer Brian Grazer traces his success in ‘Face to Face’

SANTA MONICA >> Brian Grazer says that if weren’t for Eminem making eye contact with him during a tense meeting a few years ago, the rap film “8 Mile” probably wouldn’t exist.

Getting people to set aside their phones and engage one another and meet eyes has been a priority of late for Grazer, the Oscar-winning producer behind films such as “A Beautiful Mind” and “Apollo 13.” So much so, Grazer wrote a book about it.

One of the most dramatic sections in “Face to Face: The Art of Human Connection” is Grazer’s account of an initially disastrous first meeting with Eminem.

“I could not get his attention, even though he was there to talk to me,” Grazer recalled in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “He just wasn’t connecting. And, eventually, he just — and I’m pretty good at creating conversation — and he just eventually said, ‘I’m out. I’m leaving.’”

Grazer urged the Detroit rapper to “animate,” which initially got a disapproving response. “But then he eventually turned back and we had a conversation and he really looked at me with tremendous eye contact and we really connected on a human basis and he got very involved. And, somehow, he came to life and he told the story of his life and how he ended up in this particular place right now, or achieved this particular place. And that became the basis of our entire movie. So, without that, there would be no movie of ‘8 Mile.’”

Grazer’s company, Imagine Entertainment, co-founded with director Ron Howard, would go on to produce the blockbuster “8 Mile,” starring Eminem, which is loosely based on the rapper’s life story. The last book he co-authored, “A Curious Mind,” became a New York Times bestseller.

“Face to Face” includes other Grazer encounters with a wide range of professionals, including