Mark Wahlberg Talks Max Payne & Entourage’s Future

Oscar-nominated actor Mark Wahlberg has come a long way since his days running the streets of Boston. He's managed to not only stay out of trouble with the law, but make most people forget all about his saggy-pant rapping career with the Funky Bunch. After a series of commercial and critically-acclaimed films like Boogie Nights, The Departed, and The Italian Job, Wahlberg has established himself as one of Hollywood's most bankable stars under the age of 40.

The fact that he's stepping into the role of video game character Max Payne in the new film adaptation from 20th Century Fox says a lot about the game's character and story line. Max Payne was released for PC and PlayStation 2 back in 2001, which speaks volumes about how ahead of its time the shooter was. Sure, he may catch feelings about an SNL skit, but his sensitivity doesn’t negate the fact that Wahlberg can step into any role he wants today. The actor took some time to talk to us about his first videogame role, the future of Entourage and Ludacris’ performance in the new movie…

Interview by John Gaudiosi

Complex: What are your thoughts about the wave of video games being adapted for the big screen in Hollywood today?

Mark Wahlberg: My whole thing is there are only so many stories to tell anyway, so I don't care where they come from as long as they're cool and interesting and I get to play a great character like this.

Complex: Video games play a major role in your hit TV series, Entourage, how much of that is from your life?

Mark Wahlberg: The last time me and the real Turtle, Donnie Carroll, and those guys played games was Sega NHL 92 or 93 when you could fight. But I have a very addictive personality. I can't sit around and smoke weed and play video games. As much as I like to reminisce, I'm a 37-year-old father of three.

Complex: Do you keep an eye on how far video games have come since you used to play them?

Mark Wahlberg: Now I realize how important it is to keep up with technology. I didn't even text message until recently. But I know my kids are going to grow up with computers and everything else and I have to pay attention to what's going on with games and technology to be able to monitor what they're doing. The Wii thing for me is most appealing because you still have to be a little physical with the boxing game. I don't want to have to just have my kids sit in front of the television and do nothing.

Complex: Did you go back and play the game as preparation for this role in Max Payne?

Mark Wahlberg: I didn’t want to play it because I have an addictive personality and I have more responsibility now than I’ve ever had. I don’t want to spend 14 hours on a videogame and then eight hours on the set. It wasn’t going to work out.

Complex: How does it feel to be Max Payne?

Mark Wahlberg: With a movie like this, I don’t necessarily feel cocky, but I feel confident. When you have the material and it’s a good movie, it feels good. You don’t have to lie to people and tell them it’s a good movie. If you’re lucky enough to have five good ones every 15 or 20 movies you make, then you have a good body of work there. I think this movie’s going to be amazing. It’s a very emotional movie. I haven’t felt this way about a movie in quite some time.

Complex: What attracted you to this role?

Mark Wahlberg: I'm a father, so this guy lost his wife and child, he has a license to go off and the audience is going to root for him no matter what. This was just exactly what I wanted to do after playing a science teacher in The Happening and an accountant in The Lovely Bones.

Complex: How did you get into this character?

Mark Wahlberg: One of the things I’m fortunate to have is that I’ve gone through so many different things in my life that it’s easy to go to places fairly easy. I like having my life back. I really tried to dive into this guy and stay in his head for the entire shoot. There were quite a few things that I had in my past and things that were going on in the world that I could think about and get right into that space.

Complex: How did the drug-induced aspect of the film impact what you were doing with this character?

Mark Wahlberg: With Max Payne, the demons and all of those things, I didn’t have to focus on those things. If I can’t believe, then how can I convince an audience? I can’t put my best foot forward. So with this, my character, I never buy into the whole demon thing. I just think these people are all whacked out and they’re crazy. And then obviously I have to take the drug to survive and I experience it.

Complex: How did Max Payne, the character, differ from previous tough guy roles you've done?

Mark Wahlberg: We always talked about…I’d done characters that have showed glimpses of what I hope to accomplish in this movie…show fear in The Departed and Four Brothers. But I wanted to take this to a whole new place and thankfully [director] John [Moore] was also in the head space of doing something that was really layered. I’d already done the guy with few words'one note and that’s it. I wanted to go off and push the envelope.

Click “NEXT” to read Mark talk about the stunts in Max Payne and the future of Entourage.