"Rollin' with an even Funkier Bunch!"

Mark Wahlberg has become more than a mere actor. His career has become a true jack-of-all-trades, from his days as white rapper and underwear model Marky Mark to acting in stellar films like Fear, Boogie Nights, The Perfect Storm, The Italian Job, The Departed, The Departed, and We Own The Night to executive producing no less than four hit HBO series Entourage, In Treatment, How To Make It In America, and Boardwalk Empire.

It seems that the 39-year old has seemingly conquered it all, but now he prepares for the toughest role of his career both metaphorically and literally with his role as real-life boxer “Irish” Micky Ward on the film The Fighter. As a native Bostonian, The first thing asked of Wahlberg was perfecting the one thing that makes or breaks virtually every Boston-set film, the tricky Boston accent.

“It’s a lot harder to get rid of it, than it was to get it back,” says Mark, “Every time I would leave Boston, people would, you know, it would appear that it’d be like nails on a chalkboard for people hearing that accent. And I’ve been in other movies that took place in and around that area, and the accents were god-awful. “

“And it’s almost to the point where it made it seemed like we were doing bad accents, the people who were actually from that area,” he continues, “But no, everybody did a fantastic job and didn’t push it too far, even though you think these characters are so extreme and so broad. But they’re actually a toned down version of these larger than life characters.”

One particular piece of authenticity Mark says he brought to The Fighter was its fight scenes, which he does himself.

“Well, I mean, you know, the movie was a go and then it fell apart and I just continued to train,” he explains, “So after four and a half, well, three and a half years, I felt confident

"Rollin' with an even Funkier Bunch!"

enough to go in there and be believable as a boxer who could possibly win the welterweight title. And you know, had somebody said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to train four and a half years to make this movie,’ I would have said, ‘Absolutely not.’”

“But the fact that I was just continuing to do it and never wanted to stop because I figured if I stopped and I would be giving up on the movie, and I never wanted to do that,” Wahlberg adds, “So for me it was well worth putting in the work. It just – you know, there were times obviously when it was harder and more difficult to get out of bed, and especially while making another film and training for a film that may or may not happen. But you know, it was certainly worth it in the end.”

Not only did Wahlberg play the lead of Micky in the film, but also served as the film’s producer. He talked about why he wanted to wear the two hats with this film.

“It was just out of sheer desperation for getting the movie made,” he says, “I had already promised Micky, Dickie, Alice, Charlene, everybody else involved, that we were going to get this movie made. And it seemed, you know, at first glance, like it was a no brainer. I mean, amazing parts, what a wonderful story, a really new and interesting world that you’re not that familiar with. “

“And it just wasn’t meant to be, so we just had to grab a hold of it and force it to happen with sheer will and determination,” Mark continues, “But very much like Micky’s journey to winning the title, you know, he just had to go and make it happen. Dude, I’m a hustler. I’m from the fucking street, baby. I got to make it happen. Nothing comes easy for me.”

For directing the film, Mark enlisted

"Rollin' with an even Funkier Bunch!"

David O. Russell, whose worked previously with the actor on Three Kings and I ♥ Huckabees. He spoke of what was it that makes him click with Russell.

“That’s my brother, man,” Wahlberg states, “But no, I just loved it. I mean, you know, when it dawned on me that there is a way to get this movie made, with David as the director, we had already, you know, started a relationship with Christian and got him to commit, I thought, ‘We have a chance to make something really special, and David will bring something to the table,’ that I don’t think anybody else was really trying to tap into. They thought, ‘Well, the story between the brothers is really fascinating. And it’s more of a boxing movie.’ And he brought a level of humor and emotion that I don’t think anybody else was capable of bringing to it. And if you went down that dark path, I mean, it would be a very limited audience that would go and see this movie. And we thought, you know, it has so much more to offer.”

“And we thought, you know, young, old, men, women, would all enjoy the story and everybody would find something very compelling, as well as entertaining and inspiring about it,” he adds, “So that was what David brought to the table. And I did promise David that after making this movie, our next collaboration would be right back to me just saying, “Yes, sir. No, sir,” and strictly being there to service his vision, because it was definitely a different dynamic you know, me saying, ‘Hey, wait, no, no, what about this, David, I don’t know, this is not…’ Because I was so close to them, into that world, and I think that was the only thing that took a little getting used to, and I promised my – my leader here, that I will not do that again,

"Rollin' with an even Funkier Bunch!"

the next time, if we get to work together again.”

Christian Bale co-stars with Wahlberg in the film as older brother Dickie Eklund. The actor reveals what made the Welsh actor the perfect choice for the role.

“Well, what I said was I was like, ‘There is the guy who’s not scared to play this part. Everybody loves the idea of it, but nobody really wants to commit and go there,’” he recalls, “And I had seen The Machinist, I had seen, “Rescue Dawn” and I was like, ‘If he responds to the material, this is again, you know, a chance for us to make the best possible version of the movie.’”

“I could see why people were so attracted to the part, but at the same time, it can be intimidating,” Mark adds, “But you know, he’s a fearless actor and he just, you know, he responded to it immediately. And that was, you know, really kind of what got the momentum going, and everything else started to fall into place after that.”

Mark shared a little about what he plans to share with reporter Lara Logan that he hasn’t already shared when the CBS TV news magazine 60 Minutes does a profile of the actor to talk about the film.

“I think, aside from the movie itself and the story of the making of the movie and how similar Micky’s life is to mine, the story has been told,” Wahlberg says, “I mean, you know, I was in a lot of trouble and then I turned my life around. But it makes such a good comparison to Micky’s journey and to the story, and you know, then – you know, nine kids in both families and growing up thirty minutes from each other. I’m hoping that it’s not the same old story.”

“But you know, I did have a nice time working with them and the reason why we did it is because of their

"Rollin' with an even Funkier Bunch!"

reaction to the film,” he adds, “That was the only reason for doing it. I mean, David’s talked me in to doing stuff like that in the past, whether it’s 20/20 or Dateline, or this and that. But you know, I love this movie and I would have done anything to get the movie made, and do anything to support and promote the movie. I just – you know, it’s that important to me. And we’ll see what happens.”

Wahlberg was also asked if he still uses the ring that he created to train for The Fighter.

“I do still have the ring,” Mark says, “As far as the regimen, my new regimen consists of a bottle of red wine and a lot of food. And I’m enjoying myself, but my wife is like, you know, ‘You’re starting to look really bad.’ You know. ‘I’m like a former supermodel, Victoria’s Secret Model. I mean, if you want to hold on to me, you’ve got to do something.’ So I’m back in the gym.”

Another co-star Mark discussed with us is co-star Amy Adams, who plays Micky’s girlfriend Charlene Fleming. It was asked whether the description of Adams’s character as an “MTV girl” was a fair assessment.

“She’s wild,” Wahlberg sarcastically remarks, “She’s more of a VH1 girl, with a little sprinkle of BET. She like hip-hop, some Fuse, spring break titty’s out, threesomes. That’s what Micky liked. She’s a sweetheart.”

However, Wahlberg was more earnest when it came to Amy Adams herself.

“It was instant for me,” he says of her, “It was like, ‘Whoa.’ Ah, she’s a sweetheart. You know what? David always says that she doesn’t seem like the girl who could throw a punch, but she reminds me of so many girls in my neighborhood. She looks like an Irish Catholic, tough, no nonsense, kind of girl. And you know, I saw that immediately. You know,

"Rollin' with an even Funkier Bunch!"

they’re not quite as pretty as Amy, the girls in my neighborhood. But I was such a huge fan of hers. We’d actually had the luxury of having lunch before to talk about another movie, and it was a bad movie that I did. She dodged the bullet.”

“And then I was still able to, you know, I don’t want to tell you what movie The Happening with, fuck it, it is what it is,” Mark continues, “The fucking trees, man, the plants, fuck it. You know, you can’t blame me for not wanting to try to play a science teacher and do something like that, you know. I wasn’t playing a cop or a crook. She didn’t do the movie, and we got the chance to work together again. And I was very happy about that because I thought she would bring something very special to the table, and again, showing a side of her that I certainly knew she was capable of doing but she hadn’t gotten to show yet.

Mark’s penchant for clever answers emerged once again when asked whether he’d be interested in doing a sequel to The Fighter.

“We’ll do four more fighters,” Wahlberg says, “And we’re doing those fights in the sequel. We’ll do the first Gotti fight in the sequel; then we’ll do the second one in the third installment; and then the fourth and final one will be Micky fighting in Russia.”

Finally, Wahlberg remarked on why he often has habit of being a bit smart-alecky when asked a question.

“I can hardly ever shut up,” Mark says of himself, “My wife tells me to shut up all the time.”