Emmanuel Itier: What does it take to be a great shooter? Working with guns, does this give you a “God-like” complex?

Mark Wahlberg: Well, you need to have a lot of patience and lots of time on your hands. Most of the great shooters come from the middle of nowhere. They live on a farm where there is not much else to do. For me, working with guns, and I have done that in many other films, does not give me any kind of complex. In this particular case, it’s all about mathematics and physics. It’s pretty complicated stuff to shoot a gun–that type of big gun–in this film.

EI: What did you discover about the world of intelligence and the world of politics, and did you find out we’re quite naïve when it comes to us, the audience, believing in “them”?

MW: Yes, just that. I found out about how naïve and how badly informed we are as a people. We are considering ourselves as people who are concerned and expressing our rights to vote, and therefore we need to be careful about whom we are electing, who we are voting for. You have to educate yourself about everything going on out there. My character believes in honor and his government, but it’s not all truthful out there, and you have to pay real close attention. You need to go out there sometimes and demand changes to be made.

EI: One theme of the movie is about “justice now”–in your hands, or let the system do the justice for you. What is your position on this issue?

MW: Well, I didn’t want my character not to have a conscience. I wanted people to understand what he was doing and support him. I wanted people to like him. We tried to show his human side, his inner conflict side as much as possible. And there aren’t too many places to do that because it’s such an intense movie between the “left for dead” situation at the beginning, to the on-going chase that he is the subject of. But yes, this is a tricky subject matter, and if people can debate about it and think about it, this is great.

EI: What was the most challenging scene for you?
MW: Well, everything after being shot was a huge challenge for me. It was hard to make it real and not to do too much. It was hard also to be constantly aware of the level of pain and how close he was coming to death so many times. If this didn’t work for the audience, then the overall tone and mood of the film would not work, and we need to care about him so we need to believe in this situation.

EI: If you had to shoot at some issue or somebody in a real or figurative way, who or what would it be?

MW: God…there are so many. I’m thinking about some people, but I won’t make up a list. Well, we all want love and peace among us. For sure we want people to hold to their responsibilities and we want to let these people know that we are forgiving them if they fail doing so. Part is recognizing a problem and then addressing it and moving forward.

EI: Did you really share a beer with that dog?

MW: Yeah, we shared about 12 that day. It took a long time to do it with a lot of different angles.

EI: Did he get worse as it went on?

MW: Not at all. The more beer he got, the better he got.

EI: And you?

MW: I actually didn’t really swallow that much beer because we had other scenes to shoot that day, but he wouldn’t consistently go and get the beer unless you consistently gave him half of each one.

EI: Were you a fan of the book?

MW: I hadn’t read the book before I read the script. We were actually going to make another movie. Me and Antoine (Fuqua) were attached to make another film with Paramount. My agent sent me this script and I read it and I said, “Wow, Antoine, you’ve got to check this out.” Then I found out about the book after.

EI: It seems like a sequel could be done for this. Is that something that you’d like to do?

MW: I certainly enjoyed making the character. This was the last movie that I made and so it’s all very fresh in my head, but I’ve never done a sequel before. It would really depend. If the script was better than the first movie, then it’s worth considering, but other than that, I don’t know. Most sequels seem to be made for the sake of paychecks.

EI: Speaking of sequels, they’re talking about another “Departed”. What about doing that?

MW: Yeah, I mean, I said the same thing to them that I said to everyone else. If they can make it better than the first one, then sure. I spoke to Bill Monahan and Marty (Scorsese) about it, and Bill has a really interesting take. I thought that it was really funny that I would be investigating the murder that I committed. That could go anywhere. So, like with “The Italian Job”, for instance, we were going to try and make a sequel, but never really got the script where we were all really comfortable with it. So it really depends on the material and the time period. It would be another fun character to play.

EI: What was the experience like at the Oscars last Sunday night? Was it great, and did you go party and have a good time?

MW: I did as much partying as I could. I was still home before 12:00. My kids are up really early in the morning and I don’t want to deal with my daughter’s energy while having a hangover. She’s great, and that’s a good reason to keep sober, but we went out and had dinner afterwards, and then we went to one party with Marty and everyone. I heard Marty stayed out until like 6:00 in the morning. I wonder what that’s like. I know he was with Leo and I know what that’s like.

EI: Was it fun to see him win that night?

MW: Yeah, and he certainly tried to downplay it like it wasn’t that big of a deal, but I hadn’t ever seen Marty that happy, so it was nice. Based on his body of work, I would assume that he would have a house full of those things, but it’s his first one. So to be a part of it was really fun.

EI: What was it like to be nominated?

MW: Well, I had never been nominated before. There were talks of it once or twice before in my career and I had always played it off like it wasn’t that big of a deal, and then obviously, when I got the phone call, it was a very big deal. I was able to call my parents and share the news with them. It was a fun time.

EI: How do you feel as an artist who’s done all sorts of projects that only these kinds of films get noticed from the Academy and others don’t?

MW: It’s fine. Whatever they choose to pick is up to them, certainly. I get my one vote. I actually voted for Greg Kinnear instead of myself in the first go-round, but it’s fine. I never made a movie because I thought that I might have a chance to be nominated. I mean, being in a movie with Marty was just a chance to work with Marty, and I thought that the script was great. I just try to do something different and hope that people enjoy the films and see what happens. Anything else that happens after that is just icing on the cake.

EI: What are the ingredients in a script that make you want to do something?

MW: Well, right now I’m looking for the kinds of movies that I would go and see–the kinds of movies where I would see a TV spot and go, “Wow. I want to see that.” Those are the movies that I think people want to see me in. I spent a good portion of my career making films–some films that I wasn’t necessarily interested in–but getting an opportunity to work with a certain filmmaker was certainly reason enough to make a choice. I felt like I had a lot to learn, and what better way to do it than taking a crash course in working with accomplished filmmakers.

EI: So between “Shooter” and “Huckabees”, where does that fall in terms of the kind of movie that you want to see?

MW: Well, “Huckabees” is a different thing. I’m not sure if I would run out and see that opening weekend, but when a filmmaker like David O’Russell says, “Hey, I’m going to write this part for you,” you say, “Okay.” It’s something that was completely original and you kind of take a leap of faith. “Shooter” was just a no-brainer. Everything about it made me want to make the movie. I loved the character and I loved the story. We were looking to do something more commercial so that we can be able to get other smaller, interesting movies made, and I thought that it had the best of both worlds in it. It said something. It was a smart, character-driven piece and not just a shoot ‘em up film, which I liked a lot.

EI: Is that a comfortable bargain for you, one commercial one and then one for you?

MW: Yeah, I think that one and two are better. One for them and two for you, but it really depends because it’s a juggling act, and it’s all about making the right choices and being in the position to make those choices.

EI: Did you get hurt at all in this?

MW: No. Compared to “Invincible”, it was nothing. It was a walk in the park. But getting down to be as thin as I was for the movie, that was difficult. Then, of course, there was all the mental prep, learning everything that snipers need to know in the short amount of time that we had. It was a lot of running and jumping in this one.

EI: Can you shoot like that now?

MW: Yeah, I could shoot pretty good before, but I had never gone through sniper training before, and yeah, I can hit a target at like 1,500 to 2,000 yards.

EI: What about the political overtones in this movie, because there is all of that about homeland security? What was your take on the political tone of the film?

MW: I thought that it was great. I thought that, especially if young people want to come in and see me kick some ass and get a little information at the same time, it just kind of makes you wonder if these things are really possible. They go out and ask some questions and demand some answers, and if you really want to go make some changes, maybe it’ll inspire people to want to go out there and vote and do something.

EI: This had a bit of conspiracy overtones, like “Three Days of the Condor”. Are you into that sort of thing?

MW: I am. I am, but that could be a dangerous game. David O’Russell has this other great idea. He wants to do this movie with me about this guy, Johnny Russo, who was in “The Godfather” and played the brother-in-law, the one who came back and he hung out with Sinatra and with the Kennedys and all of this stuff. He has a whole other take on what really happened to Marilyn Monroe, JFK and Robert Kennedy. It’s crazy. So I went to church today and I’m in a really good mood and giving people the benefit of the doubt, that people are honest and honorable, but ask me that again tomorrow or Tuesday and it might be different.

EI: This is a very violent, R-rated movie. So as a father yourself, how old do you think you should be to see this film?

MW: Well, it’s easier to explain to my children than “Boogie Nights”, that’s for sure. I’m not going to make any more movies like that. At the right time, we’ll have to explain this and it’ll be easier.

EI: Does fatherhood play into your choices?

MW: Yeah, definitely. I love “Boogie Nights” and I was really worried about what my mom thought, and she got it, but my mom is old enough to understand that a) it’s a movie, and b) that it’s just a world that those people live in and they’re just really nice people. But kids can be tough. High school can be like a lifetime, and I don’t want my daughter to be subject to ridicule because of the decisions that I made when I was 25 and really wasn’t thinking straight.

EI: What’s been the most sort of surprising thing in being a dad for you?

MW: Just when they smile or they give you a hug, the amount of love that you feel and the amount of satisfaction that you feel. It really just puts everything into perspective. Your priorities change immediately, and I have a couple of more years focusing on me, and obviously the older they get, the more attention that they’re going to need from me, but it’s the best thing ever.

EI: Can you talk about shooting on the glacier and if you were really up there for four days?

MW: Yeah, we were up there forever. It was scary, and I don’t like flying in helicopters either, and you had to chopper up and chopper down. When the weather came in, it was pretty scary.

EI: What part of B.C. were you in?

MW: We were at Whistler–7,000 feet above Whistler.

EI: Was that the hardest scene to do in the film—and, if not, which one was?

MW: That was hard. Working and keeping a straight face with Levon
Helm was extremely difficult, and any time after getting shot up until when I get to Sarah’s house was difficult. Playing up the pain makes you feel kind of silly always. It’s like, what’s going to be seen as real and what’s not? We didn’t shoot it in order, and we were kind of jumping around constantly and being able to go back and look at stuff and remember what level of pain I was in at the time or how close to death he was getting.

EI: What drives (your character), his own moral integrity?

MW: Yeah, honor. Honor and integrity definitely, and he won’t compromise for anyone. I just love the character. I felt like I hadn’t seen that in a while. And I think that the audience can certainly relate, which is why I saw men and women cheering almost uncontrollably when I shot-gunned (Ned and Danny). You should have seen the test screening. It was like, “Yeah! Fucking kill him! Yes!” I ran out of the theater because I couldn’t be there at the end, but wow–I can’t wait to see it. I want to see it in, like, Times Square.

EI: Do you think there is a sentiment that we’re feeling a little screwed over by our government right now?

MW: Oh, definitely, but that wasn’t…it was great that it worked out like that, but it wasn’t what we were really thinking about at the time. We were just like, “Hey, this is a really interesting script.” We were going out to make a big commercial movie and we thought why not this one, but it’s just like the Anna Nicole thing. Obviously, we shot the movie months and months ago.

EI: Was there any debate about that?

MW: We didn’t think so. It wasn’t until, like, yesterday and the day before that we were getting people’s reactions from it, and at that point it was too late to take it out.

EI: You have a great relationship with Michael Pena in the film. Was it like that from beginning?

MW: Yeah, we just clicked. We’re going to play golf on Thursday. We spent a lot of golf time together. I really admire how committed he is to his work. It was a well-written part and a part that I would’ve loved to have played and that I would’ve chased five or six years ago. I thought that we were really lucky to get him because I know he’s already been in some great films in a short amount of time. I feel like I can take some of the credit for his success. He’s gonna be a big star.

EI: Were you involved in his casting?

MW: Well, they certainly asked me what my opinion was, and we certainly read with a bunch of people. I just wanted the best person for the part. I wanted the best possible chemistry between myself and whoever was going to be in the part. We read with a bunch of people and he just nailed it, and everyone felt that strongly about him being the guy.

EI: “Entourage” is more popular than it’s ever been. How involved are you with the show?

MW: Well, I’ve been off doing my own thing. If those guys need my help, then they’re screwed. They’re so talented and so it’s really just about putting the right pieces of the puzzle together and between us and HBO getting them to where they needed to be, and now they’re off on their own. I can’t wait. I don’t even want to see the dailies anymore. I want to see it on Sunday night like everyone else.

EI: Are you surprised at how much it’s caught on?

MW: No, we thought that it was going to be a big hit. We always thought that, especially with it being on HBO. Initially, when I told people about the idea, they thought that it sounded like some silly MTV reality show. I was like, “No. It’ll be a traditional sitcom about four guys.” There’s really a guy in the group that everyone can relate to, and with HBO we were able to take our time and develop it. The people that we got involved in the show are just super talented, and so it’s just a matter of allowing them to do their thing.

EI: The show came from your stories coming up, and are you now seeing them have their own stories?

MW: They all have their own stories. Kevin Connolly is going crazy right now. He bought some $2 million house and he’s having all these problems with construction and all this shit. It’s so funny, but they’re all doing great and they’re all enjoying it.

EI: Your character in “The Departed” was a supporting role. Any reservations about making him the lead in the sequel?

MW: No, I mean, look, you’re working with Marty Scorsese and Bill
Monahan again. If the script is really strong, they’ll bring in someone like DeNiro to play a corrupt cop or Congressman or Senator. No, I don’t have any problem with that.

EI: What if Marty decided not to direct it and someone else came in?

MW: Like a first time video director? Fuck. Let me direct it.

EI: Do you think Marty would have to be there?

MW: Yeah. Look, I think that would be the smart road to go. Me and Marty are doing a TV show as well on HBO, and so I think that we can get Marty back.

EI: Can you talk about the TV show?

MW: It’s going to be set in Atlantic City. It’s about the mob controlling Atlantic City in the early years–the ’60s and ’70s. Nick Pileggi is going to be writing, along with someone possibly from the “Sopranos” writing team. Marty is going to be executive producing it. It’ll be a series on HBO.

EI: How long before that gets going?

MW: It’s all kind of happening. Marty is really jazzed about it, and HBO is obviously thrilled with the idea of working with him. So I think that, in the next couple of weeks, we’re going to sit down again.

EI: Is there a title?

MW: Not yet, no.

EI: If you had exhausted all legal means to solve a problem, do you think that you would be able to take care of it yourself? I’m not asking if you would kill someone.

MW: Again, it’s Sunday. That’s a Wednesday question. But no, I would hate to be put in a situation where I had to do something like that. God forbid, if something happened to my children or something happened to someone who couldn’t defend themselves, I don’t think that I would be that quick to be reasonable or be so forgiving, but that’s what I’m supposed to do and that’s what I practice.

EI: This being lent, is there anything that you’ve given up?

MW: Yeah, no meat on Fridays, and I haven’t had any beer, but I don’t necessarily try to give things up as opposed to focus on doing better–being more patient, being more generous, being more honest. Those are the things that I try to do, and I remind myself of those things every day when I say my prayers.

EI: So you haven’t done any films since “Shooter”? What’s next for you in the future?

MW: Well, hopefully I’m going to be starting this boxing movie in the summertime, playing Irish Mickey Ward, who was a boxer from Lowell,
Massachusetts, and Matt Damon is going to play his brother.

EI: Are you ready to get hit?

MW: I know. On paper, it sounds really good and then two weeks into shooting, I’m wanting my mommy.

EI: You really challenge yourself physically with these roles. Do you want to keep doing that?

MW: Well, I promised my trainer, who’s my sparring partner, that this would be the only boxing movie I did. I’ve been kicking his ass everyday, but certainly while I can, I want to do that. I always wanted to be an athlete and so it was a dream to be able to put on an NFL uniform and get out there and play a champion without actually having to spend all the hours in the ring and take all the hits that you have to take. It’s a dream for sure.