Mark Wahlberg Interview

Emmanuel Itier: What was going on in your life when you decided to make this movie?

Mark Wahlberg: I was playing very different characters. I had just played a science teacher in The Happening, and I played an accountant in The Lovely Bones. It was nice, actually, because after doing The Lovely Bones, in which I play a father whose child is brutally murdered and I didn’t get to get revenge like I wanted to, I got to do it in this movie times ten. So it was nice to have a completely different approach to a similar subject matter.

EI: Were you familiar with the video game, or did you ever play it?

MW: I wasn’t. I didn’t know that the movie was based on a video game until after reading the script. Then I wanted to check it out. I was amazed that video games had changed quite drastically since I played them when I was a kid. I played Pac Man. Now there’s a whole huge story and a lot of action, a lot of violence…. I won’t let my kids play it.

EI: Do you think revenge is underestimated?

MW: Revenge is good in the movies. I like seeing these kinds of characters and these kinds of films, but in the real world and in my real life, I’m a devout Catholic, so I try to forgive and turn the other cheek, but God forbid something were to happen to my family. I don’t think I could forgive or turn the other cheek. I think I would do something drastic and then afterwards I would ask the person that I beat the shit out of if they would forgive me, because it does work both ways.

EI: What did you think when you read the script about a nice family going to be killed?

MW: Well, I knew that it would be difficult for me to go to that place, but I thought that, in the big picture, I could make something that would ultimately be very entertaining, and I felt like people would enjoy seeing me in that kind of role. I thought I had a lot of real life experience that I could bring to the table — an edge and energy that I don’t get to do that often. I really like going crazy. I want to play crazy and nuts, bouncing off the walls and getting in people’s faces, and tearing it up.

EI: Could you tell us a little bit about the stunts that you did? And what was your favorite or scary one, or injuries or anything?

MW: I got banged up pretty good throughout the course of the film. I think John (Moore) watched my football movie, Invincible, and thought I was invincible or like a bionic man or something. I told him, I said, “My character in that movie wore a helmet and pads. He was well-protected!” But the most dangerous was probably running on that wet floor with all the explosions going off and all the squibs. They all had pellets in them, so they’re kind of like shooting you. Even though they’re not real bullets, they’re just stinging you up from every angle. If I’d fell, I’d have either broken my neck or certainly ruined the take, which would have been the second worst thing that I could have done, because it took a day and a half or two days to set up that shot.

EI: What is your point of view on guns? Do you collect guns?

MW: No, I don’t collect guns. I’m a convicted felon so it’s against the law for me to own a gun, and I don’t like guns unless it’s in the proper hands to protect the innocent people. Movies are one thing. I’m able to differentiate between entertainment and reality, but no, I think the world would be a much better place if all the guns were taken away.

EI: As a convicted felon, are you allowed to vote?

MW: Yes, I am allowed to vote. I’m not allowed to vote if I was in jail, I believe. I think it’s different in each state, but I am allowed to vote and I’m registered in California now. It took me quite a while, though. I went back and forth from Boston to California, but now I’m only living in California. But I would send in absentee ballots. Now I actually went and got my license, which was the scariest test I ever had to take. I haven’t taken the test in 20 years. I dropped out when I was actually 13, so the last time I took a test, I think, was to get my drivers license at 16 in Massachusetts. So it’s been quite a while since I took a test. Then I registered the same day and felt a huge sense of accomplishment passing that test. Now I’ve got to get my GED.

EI: Did you have to do any training, or did you have to workout a lot?

MW: No, I’ve been training to do this boxing movie for quite some time, so the last three movies I came in good shape, and I’ve had lots of weapons training from other films – Shooter and even early on. The first film I ever did was Renaissance Man, and my character was not a good student but he was an excellent shot. He was a marksman in the military. So I’ve been playing with guns for quite a long time.

EI: I was reading that you said Max is one of the most complex roles. Would you talk about that please?

MW: Well yeah, emotionally it was very difficult to put myself in the headspace of something horrific happening to my family every day for 12 weeks, and physically I’m not as young as I used to be, and the action stuff was far more demanding than a lot of the stuff that I’ve done recently.

EI: This is a very different kind of movie that you seem to relate to, and it seems that you are very much consumed by what is right and what is bad. Is it because of your desire for justice or a better world and straightening injustice, or is it because of your teenage years?

MW: I think I’ve always been conflicted with what’s right and what’s wrong, and doing the right thing or making up for my mistakes. I only want to do things that I can identify with or connect to on some certain level. There’s always that fine line of right and wrong where I came from and how I was raised, so those are the things that I’m drawn to.

EI: I was researching today on the Internet and I found a video of the photo shoot you did with Annie Leibovitz as Marky Mark, and somebody in that video said that your fame would only last for a minute or so.

MW: She actually said that to me.

EI: What did she say?

MW: Well, she said that it’s just a moment in time and it won’t last.

EI: Long moment.

MW: Yeah, well, you know.

EI: Now you were nominated for an Academy Award.

MW: I actually did a photo shoot with her in France for the cover of Vanity Fair and I asked her if she remembered that photo shoot. I’m not one to rub it in anybody’s face and I didn’t use it as motivation. I was already formulating a plan of what I was going to do and how I was going to do it, and everybody’s opinion varied. I knew it was always an uphill battle and I didn’t have the vote of confidence from everybody, but I knew if I was going to put in the hard work, whether I failed or succeeded, as long as I gave it my best, I would feel good about that. My success is not judged by my professional success. It’s going to be who I am as a person anyway, and that’s the most important thing — being a father and a future husband, and, of course, a servant of God, ultimately. It’s so much harder for a rich man to get into heaven anyway.

EI: Are you ashamed of the Marky Mark?

MW: You know, it’s not my favorite thing. When I started early on, I wanted to distance myself from it as much as possible because I wanted to be taken seriously as an actor, and I knew that that wouldn’t — in any way, shape, or form — help me, but it’s all part of my makeup. It’s all part of who I am today. I don’t want my kids seeing it. They’re going to go, “What the heck were you thinking, dad?” It’s not the coolest thing in the world, and most people don’t have most of their childhood or teenage years documented on film or in video, so I’ve got some explaining to do, but I’ve got some time to figure out a good explanation too.

EI: When you were searching for a way, was there someone who actually told you, “You can do it. You can turn your life around, and be a serious actor”?

MW: There were a couple of people that believed in me — people that I was working with — and it was important to me, because some people come at you for the short term to make a quick buck or whatever — cash in. But yeah, certainly — people that are still very much involved in my life today.

EI: Do you think Donnie (Wahlberg) had the worst hair? Because he had really big hairspray hair when he was in New Kids (On The Block).

MW: Yeah, he was definitely going out on a limb with the fashion stuff — the look, the hair, the whole thing. All of them were. They didn’t think that they were going to have to relive that stuff 15 years later.

EI: Who do you think is most embarrassed — you or him — or do you have competitions?

MW: I don’t think he’s embarrassed. He’s right back out there doing it again, so he can’t be too embarrassed.

EI: Who’d win a fight between you two, do you think?

MW: Me for sure. He’d probably say the same thing, but I wouldn’t bet money on it. I am the youngest of nine, so I spent most of my years getting my ass kicked. People always said, “Oh, you’ve got eight older brothers and sisters. Oh my God, you must have been so spoiled.” I’m like, “Spoiled? Not in my household.” It was like the trickle effect. Somebody would slap somebody and by the time they came down to me, I was getting the brunt of it, but I made a point to be able to kick everybody’s ass. I remember my mother saying to me — we’d come home for holidays and whatever, and I was grabbing one of my brothers, I think it was my brother Paul, and I’m like choking him and punching him, and she’s like, “What are you doing?” She’s like, “Your brother is 32 years old. His wife and kids are sitting there watching you. Why don’t you grow up?” and I was like, “Okay, all right. We’re even. Everybody, we’re even, okay?”

EI: Do people still comment about your Calvin Klein ads?

MW: Sometimes — people whipping out pictures. I was on Ellen the other day. It will air on Monday, and they whipped out the Calvin Klein picture and some other embarrassing stuff. It’s weird because, just to follow up on what we were talking about, we would always beat the shit out of each other, but God forbid somebody outside of the family mess with us. Then all nine of us would be there.

EI: Then the revenge would come into play?

MW: Exactly.

EI: And Max, then, has lost faith in everything since he lost his family — what you believe in most and ideals of family, work, progress of humanity, God, beauty of the world, salvation…

MW: That is a very long list. No, first and foremost: God. My faith in God is the most important to me. My faith, my family. Then it’s a toss up, depending on the day, whether golf or work. Work is not what motivates me completely. Faith is the most important thing, and faith is the big picture, obviously — my faith in God. But humanity… all those things follow.

EI: Max Payne has an intimate dialogue with his ex-wife, so like Max Payne. The hero is very much alone in his quest. Do you believe that we are always alone in our intimate and ultimate quest and struggle for life and ideals?

MW: I don’t ever feel like I’m alone. Jesus is watching over me. My Guardian Angel is on my shoulder. So no, I think I’m surrounded by love.

EI: Was it hard to quit this part? Because it’s a heavy movie…

MW: I was glad when it was over for sure. I went and hugged and squeezed my kids.

EI: How do you apply the faith on a daily basis?

MW: Well, the first thing I do when I open my eyes is thank God and thank Mother Mary, and thank my Guardian Angel for protecting me, and everything that I do, the way I look at life… When I leave here today at 5:30, I’m going to church. It’s the most important thing. If I’m working and it’s effecting me getting my spiritual dose each week, then I’m not going to work. I’m telling them, “I’ll see you in two hours.” That’s just how it is. That’s what’s most important to me. That’s what’s made me who I am today as a person, and everything else has kind of followed suit because of the strength in my faith — my commitment to that.

EI: Was it a hard childhood that brought you to faith?

MW: Of course, my parents sent us to church. They didn’t really go. They were busy trying to put food on the table. The first time I really turned back to God, obviously after I turned my back on him, was when I got in trouble and I was like, “Oh God, I’ll never do it again. Just get me out of jail for the 20th time and I promise you I won’t do it again.” But when I started to really focus my faith is when good things started to happen to me, and it was clear cut signs that you get out what you put in. Without faith, what do you have in this cold, dark, ugly world?

EI: Some people say we are alone in this world. There’s no God.

MW: Well, I guarantee you that every single day, I go home and I pray for them too. They are very high up on my list. God is not worried about the people that have the faith. He’s worrying about the people that don’t have it. Jesus spent most of his time with the prostitutes and the tax collectors because they needed it more than anybody.

EI: That’s why you carefully choose your parts?

MW: No. I mean, look, I’ve made movies. I hope God’s a movie fan…although Boogie Nights is going to be hard to explain and I’ve done movies that portray violence and different things. I want to play a bad guy and a good guy, but I know that it’s entertainment and it’s up to me to teach my children the difference.

EI: Can I just follow up about modeling again? I have a question about the Kate Moss naked shot for a men’s magazine. Was that fun?

MW: Yeah, it was okay. I mean, I was not into the waif thing. I mean, she kind of looked like my nephew. She’s beautiful. She’s a pretty nephew, but I was into very curvy, voluptuous women. So when they pulled out the little, you know, I was like, “What the heck is going on?”

EI: Entourage is sort of based on your life. What is the wildest night you’ve had?

MW: I’m not going to own up to any of that. Why would I incriminate myself? No, people always ask me, “Which parts are you?” I say, “The nice bits when they finally go to church. When he calls his mom and tells her he loves her.” The stuff either happened with me or other people in the business, and sometimes, obviously, the writers come up with interesting things that they make up, but it’s pretty spot-on when it comes to the business aspect of it and all the ups and downs. I think people are really enjoying the show now because they see it’s not all highs. It’s just a very difficult business. You see how many people have gotten success, especially success early on. I think that’s a great moral. This kid did Aquaman and then he thought he could just write his own ticket and whatever decision he made was going to be the right one, and now he’s singing at bar mitzvahs.

EI: That’s brilliant.

MW: It’s a difficult business. You’ve seen how many people have come and gone that are supposed to be the next big thing. That’s why I just kept trying to chip away one more part to make me a little bit better, something that people want to see me in, and something that I think I can shine in, and that’s it.

EI: Was there a moment in your life that you felt like the antihero? Like you tried to do your best but sometimes, for some people, it wasn’t enough?

MW: I don’t know, maybe. I think I was misunderstood during the musical days, but that was a very difficult thing going on, being associated with New Kids on the Block, who aren’t perceived as being the most edgy or street-credible act in the business. Then, of course, having my past but not trying to use that to gain street credibility, because I wasn’t proud of the fact that I went to jail. I wasn’t going to try to use that to sell records. I was actually kind of embarrassed and ashamed. I didn’t try to hide it either, but I wasn’t trying to use it to sell records the way a lot of people do, especially in hip-hop.

EI: Have you set a wedding date?

MW: Not an actual date, but August.

EI: Next project?

MW: Well, The Lovely Bones is coming out next year, but after that, I don’t know.