Hip-hop rapper Eminem was first offered the Elysium role now played by Academy Award-nominated actor Matt Damon, according to the film's director.

In a recent interview with Wired, Neill Blomkamp revealed that Damon wasn't his first choice for character Max DeCosta. He said he approached two other men for the part - one being Slim Shady.

Blomkamp first approached South African rapper Ninja, but the member of the rap-rave crew Die Antwoord turned down the opportunity saying, "It was a f-ked-up, difficult decision." Ninja said the reason for saying "No" was because he didn't want his first film role to be in an American film playing an American character.

Blomkamp then approached Eminem, who starred in 8 Mile, but the rapper turned it down as well since he demanded the project be filmed in his hometown of Detroit. The 33-year-old director said that Johannesburg, South Africa is the city that has "this thermonuclear-weapons feel" and inspires him as a filmmaker since he was born and raised there.

The District 9 director at last got Damon to sign on fo the film after they met in late 2010 in a New York diner.

"About 15 minutes in, he pulled out what was essentially a homemade graphic novel...It absolutely blew my mind," Damon said. "What struck me about Neill was the same thing that struck me about [Jim] Cameron: The world had already been created. It existed in their minds."

Elysium takes place in the year 2154, the future of the dystopian society. The wealthiest citizens, who can easily get cancer cells removed, live on the utopian space station of Elysium. The less fortunate live on planet Earth, an overcrowded world full of crime and discontent.

Also starring Jodie Foster and William Fichtner, Elysium hits theaters on Aug. 9.

Tags: Eminem Matt Damon Neill Blomkamp Elysium