By Veronica Mixon
May 9, 2003
Mark Wahlberg arrives late for our
interview about his latest film The
Italian Job because he's
sick from food poisoning. Nevertheless,
he appears enthusiastic and eager to
talk about the nifty heist film. Wahlberg's
career skyrocketted after he portrayed
of a young porno star in Boogie
Nights and he has delivered wonderful
performances in The Yards, Three
Kings and The Perfect Storm.
The Boston born actor, who will turn
32 on June 5th, is about to become a
father for the first time and he also
freely shared his point of view about
his personal life in such a high profile
profession.
THE INTERVIEW
How are you?
Aside from getting food poisoning, OK.
It is the second time this week. Monday,
in Boston, I got food poisoning at a
diner. I was in the car when it all
came up. On a business street, all over
my clothes!
Donald Sutherland had high
praise to you. What was it like working
with him?
I was always a huge fan of his. I’d
admired him and watched him through
most his career. He wanted to do this
movie but with guys like that, you never
really know what to expect. I’ve
always wanted to work with certain guys
because of certain roles that they played
and they turned out to be the complete
opposite which makes sense but if you’ve
never been in that world that before.
My nephew still calls Seth Green that
character in Austin Powers.
That’s all he knows. Toby Maguire
comes to my house to play basketball,
[relatives] they’re like ‘Spiderman’s
here! Spiderman’s here!’
I didn’t know what to expect and
Donald is one of the most warm and generous
guys I’ve ever met. He won me
over right away because he brought two
bottles of French wine. But to be able
to work with a guy like that and have
him respect me as an actor, it gave
me hope for the future because I’ve
been working with –I’ve
been so lucky with the guys that I’ve
worked with. Sometimes guys you think
are going to be great are pricks! It
just happens.
So, you enjoyed making The
Italian Job?
I knew we were on to something. My feeling
is that I still have so much to learn
and who better to learn from than filmmakers.
Tim Button calls me and say do you want
to make a movie. I’m hoping that
it’s kind of like “Raging
Bull,” yes! But it turns out to
be “Planet of the Apes”
which I wasn’t a big fan of because
my whole thing is being reality based.
But, here is Tim Burton and how many
chances am I going to get to work with
him. The same thing with Jonathan [Demme].
With this, the material really jumped
out at me and Gary [Gray] asked me to
do something different from any other
director. And, trying to be likeable
and he felt that the guy was a crook
but he was really likeable. So, I hammed
it up a little bit more and throw in
a couple more smiles and winks. That
was something that I’d never thought
about before and I’d played likeable
characters.
Is it tough to promote films
that you don’t feel 100% about?
Oh, yeah. That was sucked about being
sick with food poisoning. I went to
bed at 10 o’clock. I’m not
up for press but this is part of it.
Obviously. I have no problems supporting
my work. The studios spend a lot of
money and they want to make their money
back. It’s a business. So, yes,
it is so much easier talk about something
that you enjoy and feel good about.
You went to bed at 10 o’clock?
We expect wilder things from you than
going to bed at 10.
Listen, six months ago, it was a different
story. No, longer than that. It’s
been a year now.
What was the turning point?
Just growing up. It’s the same
thing all the time. You have a couple
of drinks and then you start looking
at women and aw! And, they are all out
there.
Well, it’s easy, right?
I already said that when I was a kid,
I couldn’t get anyone to pay attention
to me. And, then I became famous and
it was like – really attractive
women were all of sudden interested
in me. That was amazing for about a
week. Then I realized what it was all
about.
It took a week?
[Laughs] Yeah, I took advantage of it
for another eight years! Within a week,
I knew what they wanted. I was very
careful. That’s why I didn’t
marry any actresses. I don’t have
a public relationship.
You have a baby coming.
I do. I have a baby girl coming in August.
Are you going to spoil her?
Of course! I spoil my dog!
Who are you having a baby with?
Her name is Rhea.
Not Joanna Brewster?
No, we broke up.
This is news.
We try to keep it on the low down.
Are you looking forward to
it?
Oh, yeah! I can’t wait.
Are you going to be in delivery
room?
I don’t know. Let me tell you
one quick funny story my mom told me.
My mom has nine children. She was about
to have her sixth [child] and she told
my dad. He says OK. He takes her to
the hospital and tells her, “Call
me when you’re done.” And,
within an hour and a half, he’d
just gotten back to the house, saying,
“What do you want?” She
said we just had another boy. It was
my brother. My dad said every time she
had a baby, a few weeks later, she was
pregnant again. He didn’t want
to have nine kids. My mother told the
story to me and my girlfriend and I
said, “see I don’t need
to be there baby.” She wants me
to be there of course, but she doesn’t
want me to watch. Not like that! I saw
it once on television and I’ve
never been able to get that [image]
out of my head.
Your life will change.
It already has. I had already stop going
out and changed my way of life. It was
the right time. I’m the youngest
of nine. I have thirteen nieces and
nephews, and all of my friends and family
have children. But, I figured that the
right thing to do was to wait for the
right time.
Weren’t you getting bored
with partying anyway?
Yeah, it runs its course quickly.
Where did you meet your girlfriend?
We met here in New York. We were introduced
by a mutual friend.
What makes Rhea different?
It’s just the kind of person that
she is. What she wants out of life.
I remember going out with people and
they’d be upset if we didn’t
go to my premiere to be photographed.
And, I was very particular about our
relationship and I think other people
wanted to promote themselves. She is
the kind of person I was looking for.
I can trust her in ways that I couldn’t
trust myself. That means a lot of me
because I am very private when it comes
to certain things, my real feelings
and thoughts and she’s just amazing
that way.
Did you know instantly?
No, it was sex at first sight. [Laughs]
We didn’t have it but I wanted
to. No, we just kind of grew together.
She has some really strong morals and
high standards and I like that. I don’t
know how I fit into that – high
standards.
Your brother, Donnie says he
wants to do a movie with you but Mark
would get $10 million bucks and he’d
get like $5.
That’s how it was meant to be.
We heard the cast broke into
Paramount.
We can’t talk about it. Everyone
is allowed to talk about it but me.
Did you see “Mission
Impossible 3”?
I heard there were 18 drafts.
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