STACK #124 Feb 2016

ENTOURAGE The hit HBO series created by Doug Ellin is loosely based on Wahlberg’s early experiences in Hollywood with his Boston buddies, as an up and coming actor. The show wrapped in 2011 after eight seasons, but Wahlberg has been the driving force behind an Entourage movie. “I will fight to the end to get the movie made,” he said. And after a three year battle, the film finally went into production in February 2014 and will hit cinemas here on June 4, 2015. PRODUCER From 2007 onwards, Wahlberg also served as a producer on a number of his films, including We Own the Night , The Fighter , Contraband , Broken City and Lone Survivor . He’s also credited as an executive producer on the TV series Entourage , InTreatment and Boardwalk Empire . “Producing suits me because I have a business mind and a business sensibility,” he says. “I was a street hustler. I did whatever it took. I sold whatever I could sell. I’m a good organiser.” THE GAMBLER On February 5, in cinemas everywhere, you’ll get to see Mark Wahlberg as you’ve never seen him before – as a literature professor. In this remake of the 1974 film starring James Caan, Wahlberg’s character must find a way to overcome his gambling problem and massive debt. According to the tagline, “The only way out is all in”, and you can bet on another committed performance from the Wahlberger.

In 2004 he reunited with Three Kings director David O. Russell for the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees , and next appeared as one of Four Brothers (2005) seeking revenge for their adoptive mother’s murder in John Singleton’s gritty urban update of the western The Sons of Katie Elder . Then it was on to Disney’s inspirational gridiron movie Invincible (2006), in which he starred as real-life bartender turned NRL player Vince Papale. It was a role he relished: “It’s a movie my kids can see – my nieces and nephews. I haven’t had that. None of my nieces and nephews have seen Boogie Nights , thank God! I haven’t made too many PG movies.” Leo DiCaprio and Matt Damon may have got all the kudos for The Departed (2006), but it was Wahlberg who received the Oscar nomination (Best Supporting Actor) for his performance as the short-fused cop who sends DiCaprio undercover. “Any time someone says you have an opportunity to work with Martin Scorsese, you jump at the chance,” he said, stating the obvious. Wahlberg was back in action man mode in the solid and gripping Shooter (2007), as a former marine scout sniper who’s lured out of retirement amidst fears of a presidential assassination attempt, and then framed. His second collaboration with James Gray and Joaquin Phoenix was We Own the Night (2007), playing the cop brother to Phoenix’s nightclub owner who’s in cahoots with the Russian mob. Having enjoyed a run of quality films and good reviews over the last four years, a pair of stinkers and Razzie nominations followed in 2008. First up was M. Night Shyamalan’s risible killer tree movie The Happening , in which Wahlberg played a science teacher who berates a pot plant! “It was a really bad movie,” he admitted to Entertainment Weekly . “F–ing trees, man. You can’t blame me for not wanting to play a science teacher. At least I wasn’t playing a cop or a crook.” Then came the title role in video game adaptation Max Payne , which although despised by critics and gamers alike, was a film the actor felt provided him with “one of the edgier roles I’ve played, but also the most layered”.

an accomplishment when your co-stars are Steve Carell and Tina Fey! And in buddy cop comedy The Other Guys (2010), he held his own against perennial scene-stealer Will Ferrell, demonstrating a previously unseen flair for humour and improvisation. The Fighter (2010), a biopic of boxer Micky Ward, was a long gestating passion project for Wahlberg, who was friends with Ward and considered him “a local sports hero”. The actor began training for the role five years earlier, which paid off onscreen. “Mark inhabited Micky,” noted director David O. Russell. “He moved like him, dressed like him and got his style of fighting down perfectly. Like Micky, he doesn’t give up, ever. He has that same intensity to him.” Contraband (2012), like Shooter , was another satisfying Wahlberg action vehicle, with the actor playing a former smuggler who must save his brother from vengeful drug lords – a role The Hollywood Reporter ’s Todd McCarthy says “fits Mark Wahlberg like a glove”. STACK concurs. He took another stab at comedy in Seth MacFarlane’s Ted (2012), but was upstaged by his foul-mouthed CGI co-star. MacFarlane got Wahlberg onboard after the actor had seen himself parodied in an episode of Family Guy . Then it was back to playing a former NYPD detective turned PI in Broken City (2013), who is double-crossed by corrupt Mayor Russell Crowe. “The film’s script reminded me of those smart, character-driven crime thrillers that I grew up watching and loving,” Wahlberg explained. Michael Bay cast him as one of a trio of inept meatheads who embark on a campaign of kidnapping, extortion and murder in the crime- comedy Pain & Gain (2013). So Wahlberg hit the gym, adding 40 lbs of muscle for the role and underwent full body fake tanning on a weekly basis. Wahlberg found himself on the run from drug cartels once again in 2 Guns (2013), his second collaboration with Contraband director Baltasar Kormákur. This time he was paired with Denzel Washington, as a fellow undercover agent, and it was a mismatch that worked. In Peter Berg’s harrowing Lone Survivor (2013), he played a member of a four-man Navy SEAL team on a mission to locate a Taliban leader in Afghanistan. Based on a true-life reconnaissance mission, the actor described it as one of his most rewarding jobs: “This is the best working experience I’ve ever had, under the toughest conditions.”

He joined the cast of Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones (2009) a day before shooting commenced, replacing Ryan Gosling in the role of Saoirse Ronan’s grieving father. The ‘10s “I like to do projects I feel some connection to.” Wahlberg followed the rather

Wahlberg reunited with new buddy Michael Bay in 2014, replacing Shia LaBeouf as the human lead in the

maudlin The Lovely Bones with a pair of comedies – a genre largely absent from his filmography. As a shirtless security expert in Date Night (2010), he won a Teen Choice Award

Transformers franchise. And dare we say it, his presence actually made Transformers: Age of Extinction less painful to watch than its predecessors. “Mark’s always prepared,” says Bay. “I just love working

UPCOMING Watch out for Wahlberg in Ted 2 , due in cinemas on 25 June 2015, and as himself in the Entourage movie (see top). He has also completed the thriller Mojave , and is currently shooting comedy Daddy’s Home , which reunites him with Will Ferrell.

for Male Scene Stealer – quite

with the guy. He’s a pro.”

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