In 2010, “Lost” was coming to a close on ABC.
Show star Dominic Monaghan, whose character Charlie Pace was killed off at the end of Season 3, had remained a key part of the show until the very end via flashbacks and parallel side stories. That year, Monaghan landed another really cool role: the British actor played Eminem opposite Megan Fox in the music video for “Love the Way You Lie.”
During a recent interview with TheWrap focused on Monaghan’s dream gig as host of Travel Channel’s “Wild Things,” the hip-hop fan shared the story of how the music video came about.
“I was friends with the director,” Monaghan said. “He and I were trying to put a movie together for three or four years, and we became good friends and hung out a lot, and we’d spend time together just artistically talking about the film.”
That director was Joseph Kahn. He had Monaghan playing Eminem opposite Fox’s Kim Mathers, the rapper’s on-again/off-again wife.
“He knew that I was an Eminem fan because he’d worked with Eminem before on ‘The Real Slim Shady’ video,” the “Lord of the Rings” actor continued. “He called me up one day and just said, ‘Hey do you want to be in this Eminem video that I’m doing?’”
“And I was like, ‘Yeah, of course I do,’” Monaghan, who called Marshall Mathers “arguably the greatest rapper of all time,” recalled. “Of course.”
“It’s a great song and it’s a cool video as well,” he said. “The cool thing was Eminem had to sign off on it — he had to sign off on me. I found out from the director that Eminem described me as ‘dirty,’ which I think is a compliment when it comes from Marshall.”
In the now-classic rap video, Monaghan ranges from violent to lustful, one moment punching through walls, and the next, making out with the “Transformers” star.
“I only did that video so I could meet Eminem, that was the only reason. I hardly got paid any money, it was a very short shoot,” Monaghan said. “Interscope flew me to Detroit and I got a chance to see him and Jay Z in concert.”
Watch the video above — because it’s like three million viewers shy of a billion on Vevo.
“Love the Way You Lie,” which featured Rihanna, was Eminem‘s fourth No. 1 single. It topped the Billboard 100 for seven weeks that summer.
Monaghan’s “Wild Things” returns to the Travel Channel for its new season on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 10 p.m.