Mark Wahlberg has some fun with yokozuna Asashoryu during his rec TOKYO If Mark Wahlberg ever gets tired of being an actor, he could always try his hand at being a sniper. After the rigorous training he did for his latest film, The Shooter, under the watchful eye of a Marine sniper, the 36-year-old star said he got pretty good at it. Of course, I ve got no use for those skills in real life.
I don t even own any weapons. It takes a very unique person to do that kind of job, he said during a recent visit to Japan, his first since The Perfect Storm in 2000. Wahlberg s year got off to a dream start when he received a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for The Departed.
I didn t expect it, considering the small amount of screen time I had, he said. Since then, he has been busy promoting The Shooter, directed by Antoine Fuqua. Wahlberg plays Bob Lee Swagger, an ex-Marine sniper who resides with his dog in a mountain retreat, feeling bitter about being left for dead by his superiors in a previous assignment.
When he is asked to use his lethal skills to stop a possible attempt to assassinate the president, he agrees, only to find himself set up by a greedy government cabal. I love the outdoors and it was a very challenging role, he said. Antoine is a very demanding director.
In one scene, I had to get dragged by a tugboat. Nobody bothered to see if the water was clean. I called Antoine on the walkie-talkie and he snapped That s what you get paid for.
He wouldn t take no for an answer. Wahlberg has a reputation for clashing with directors and cast on his films and did so frequently on The Departed, as well. You need that kind of intensity to make a movie work, he says.
One of nine children, Wahlberg grew up in a poor Boston neighborhood. During his teens, he was in trouble with the law over drugs and stealing and did time at 16 for assault. Later on, he tried his hand at rapping, as Marky Mark.
His debut album became a success, boosted by his willingness to strip down to his underwear on stage. That led him to becoming a billboard underwear model for Calvin Klein. But the bad boy couldn t shake his image and Wahlberg was frequently in the headlines over fights and scandals, including a 1992 book dedicated to his penis.
It wasn t until he turned to acting in the 1994 film Renaissance Man that his life began to stabilize. He followed that with strong performances in such films as The Basketball Diaries, Boogie Nights, Three Kings, The Perfect Storm and Planet of the Apes, as well as some he said he d rather forget ( The Truth About Charlie ). You go into every movie thinking it s going to be good and they stink.
I was in a slump for awhile, making a lot of bad decisions, he admitted. Then I decided I needed to do the kinds of movies I would go to see, something that I would feel an emotional connection to. Since then, I ve had some good results.
I give my all to each movie I make. He also gives plenty back to working class communities through the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation which he set up in 2001. Where I grew up, there was a lot of violence and drugs.
I was fortunate to get out but a lot of my friends weren t, he said. I m trying to provide opportunities for kids to get an education. I don t believe God put me here to forget where I came from.
In the future, Wahlberg said he would like to do a comedy and maybe also produce and direct. I try to study and steal as much as I can from all the talented directors I have worked with.
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