Emmanuel Itier: Joaquin was describing working with you and how surprised he was that you could just walk in and you were totally in character. You knew all your stuff and he was really impressed.

Mark Wahlberg: Wow. Well, I just come to work prepared. I like to kind of dive in, and especially working with a guy like James [Gray]. He´s very specific in what he´s looking for. You can almost just ask him for a line reading and he´ll save everybody a lot of time. Joaquin likes to come in and “Oh, I don´t like this. Uhhhhg.” And smoke 20 cigarettes at 8 o´clock in the morning. You are like “Come on, man. Let´s just do it.” He´s like “No, your part is good and mine´s not.” But everybody has their own process. I just know that James is so specific that I just ask him. I come in as prepared as possible and be ready to do what he wants you to do.

EI: You have played a couple of cops recently. Have you gained any sort of insight into the course of things?

MW: Yeah, I know a lot about cops, but I have since I was a kid. It´s a tough job. I appreciate them more now. I, like every other crook, hated the fucking cops when I was doing wrong. Now I appreciate them and I actually pray for them. It´s a difficult job.

EI: Do you spend time with cops?

MW: Yeah.

EI: What is the most surprising thing that you have learned about cops?

MW: How committed they are–the ones that are doing the right thing–how committed they are to helping people. How selfless they are. It´s a very heroic thing that they do.

EI: Have you had much run-in with ones that are doing the wrong thing?

MW: When I was younger, yeah. Oh yeah, guys that I grew up with that were doing the same stuff I was doing and didn´t get caught or have a record were able to go on and become cops. It´s pretty bizarre.

EI: You talk about Robert Duvall’s style of work. You talk about a different generation of actor.

MW: Well, Duvall is one of the best, obviously. He´s certainly one of my favorites. He reminds me so much of my dad. His process is similar to mine. He comes in prepared and you go in and try to make it real. It really was a dream-come-true working with Bobby Duvall.

EI: Do you get an opportunity… especially if you admire his work, I don´t know if anybody ever repeats his lines back to him from previous movies. Did you get an opportunity to talk about it?

MW: We talked about a lot of stuff. We talked about Godfather and Apocalypse Now, but I was more interested in talking about his experience on The Apostle. I thought that was one of his best performances, and obviously a wonderful job directing there. He tends to shift the conversation into westerns and food. He likes to talk about food a lot. [Laughs] So if you mention a good brisket or something, he´ll stay on that subject for quite a while.

EI: You didn´t get to tango?

MW: No, but he knew that I tangoed before in the Jonathan Demme movie. My background is in music. We instantly connected, though. He´s had dinner at my house with his wife. I was sad that I didn´t get the chance to say hello to him at the Emmys. I was there, but I had to run right out after Entourage lost. I ran to the airport and got on a plane. I had to be at work the next morning.

EI: For The Happening?

MW: Yes.

EI: You’re starting that soon?

MW: Yes, we actually got another week.

EI: Can you talk about it?

MW: Yeah, I´m thrilled. It is a complete departure for me. I play a science teacher, my wife, played by Zooey Deschanel, is a therapist, and the movie is really about our relationship and the conflicts that we are having. It´s set in this horrific disaster that is happening. Working with Night [Shyamalan] is awesome. I am glad that I have worked with him before I try to venture off into directing. He brings a whole other element to the game. It´s very impressive to see.

EI: In what way?

MW: I haven´t really figured out the best way to explain it. I can give you an example. The first scene we shot was a five-page scene set in a classroom. Any other director I´ve worked with would have taken three days to shoot it, and we shot it by lunch. It´s beautiful, so he just knows what he wants and it´s all thought-out. I´ve never walked into a trailer and your sides are there, there are also storyboards for the day, and that´s what you´re going to be shooting. He just knows exactly what he wants. It´s been a great experience. You never know until it´s done, but it feels pretty special.

EI: Why is it a departure?

MW: I play a nerdy science teacher from Philadelphia. I´m very intimidated by my wife and I can´t connect outside of the classroom. I´m the best teacher you have ever seen. I´m like one of my students, my students love me, and we have this great connection. I am extremely passionate about what I do, but I have some difficulties in other departments–being a man, trying to be the man she wants me to be… I am extremely positive and optimistic, and she is the opposite. It´s really about their relationship, which is great.

EI: Is directing a direction that you see yourself going towards

MW: Definitely something that I want. I definitely want to take a crack at it. I want to wait until I find the write piece of material. Certainly, working with all these great filmmakers lately doesn´t hurt.

EI: Have you been surprised by the success of Entourage?

MW: Yes and no. I always thought it was going to be special. It just took a while to convince everybody else. It´s definitely a marathon, but gradually we are getting there.

EI: Is it still based on your life?

MW: No, the writers are off doing it. There are some things… every once in a while there will be some crazy thing that happened with me or friends of mine. For the most part, they are just trying to come up with interesting stuff.

EI: Would you try to break into directing by doing an episode of Entourage?

MW: I thought about it. I don´t think I necessarily need to do that for the experience. I think that studying the filmmakers that I worked with… it´s just really a matter of finding the right piece of material.

EI: In We Own the Night, in the scene where your character gets hurt, does any of this stuff ever haunt you? I can imagine I would have nightmares seeing a guy with a bag over his head shooting at me.

MW: No, it´s weird. I had a nightmare that me and Night got into a big fight on the set. No, I don´t, I just kind of let it go. That ride home from that long day of work, that´s usually the time to kind of reflect on the day. The last thing I do before I go to bed is say my prayers. I usually try to go to bed with a very positive thought in my head.

EI: Do you sing the kids lullabys at bedtime?

MW: Oh yeah. I mean, I´ve been on location. They were in Philadelphia for three weeks and I´ve been home for three weekends since then. I just can´t wait to finish working. This movie will be out and I will have no other commitments at least until after the first of the year. I will be able to really spend some quality time.

EI: Anything coming up in the future that you are working on–maybe an animated film for your kids?

MW: No, there is nothing set in stone. I´m glad that I´ve made a movie like Invincible and this movie. Probably after they are 13, they will be able to see it. There is some really scary stuff in The Happening. I definitely want to be more conscious of the decisions that I make.

EI: Is it true Brad Pitt stepped in for Matt Damon on the Mickey Ward film?

MW: Yes.

EI: So the film is still on track?

MW: I´ve been training. October 13th will be a full year that I´ve been training to play this part. I´ve got more training ahead of me, but I think to do what I want to do with this movie and what I think other boxing movies haven´t been able to really capture is the believability of being a champion. Like Invincible, we want to go in there and make it real. Take some hits, you know? I want to do Mickey justice. He´s certainly one of my favorite fighters. I think he had more heart than anybody else. I think that´s really what it´s about, his heart, so you got to go in there and take a couple.

EI: Why did Matt Damon pass?

MW: I don´t know. I haven´t spoken to him since. I know it was something that Brad originally wanted to do, before Matt was involved. I don´t know if it’s schedules or a whole bunch of stuff, but I know how excited Brad was to get another opportunity to make this movie and play that part.

EI: Films are illusion. You can make us believe, through your acting, that people are apes or whatever…

MW: Oh, I didn´t believe that one, that´s for sure. But no, I´ve seen every boxing movie ever made. I´m also a huge fight fan. I fought a little bit when I was younger, and some of the greatest movies ever made–talk about Raging Bull and Rocky, I saw them 30 times. The fighting just wasn´t as realistic as what we hope to achieve and accomplish, in this movie.

EI: Which means?

MW: You got to get in there and take it. I talked to Brad–he wants to do the same thing, and so I´m excited about that.

EI: When you go on location, are you able to bring your family with you?

MW: Yeah, they were there for three weeks. It was the first time that they were ever there on the beginning of a shoot, though. That was difficult because I´m trying to prepare. I spend two or three hours a night reading the script out loud, from page one to the final page. That took a little bit of getting used to, but it was still nice knowing that when I got home, they were going to be there.

EI: Did you ever imagine you would be a family man?

MW: I was having too much fun to think about being a family man. But this is a whole other… this is what life is all about. I came home last night about 2:30 in the morning, when we finished shooting late in Philly. I jumped right on a plane and I sat there for 45 minutes just watching my daughter sleep. I woke my son up this morning. There is nothing better than that.

EI: You don´t want to get the label of being the “remake” guy. Then along came Italian Job and now you may be doing Sharky´s Machine.

MW: The first couple of remakes that we made, they were just starting to remake movies, and now it´s like they are doing it every other weekend. Sharky´s Machine is something that is just an interesting idea. It´s all about the script now. I don´t care about the title, the concept, or the filmmaker so much. It´s really about the material. I don´t see that movie happening anytime in the future.

EI: What about The Italian Job sequel?

MW: Again, until they can get the script in better shape than the original, it´s just not worth doing. And the same with The Departed, for that matter.

EI: There is a lot of media, especially around Oscar time, that it may be there?

MW: I think that William Monahan is writing the script. Like I said, if we can do something better than the original, then it´s worth it. If not, there are plenty of other ways to go make a bad movie and get a paycheck for it. I just want to try to do some interesting things. I don´t want to go back to the well unless it´s going to really be satisfying–for myself, as well as the audience.

EI: What do you think when they attached the Oscar buzz with things?

MW: It was fun, but it got a little tedious towards the end. You put the suit on again, your feet start hurting, and you go from this thing to that thing… but it was nice just to see how proud my parents were, and I had never been to the ceremony, so it was nice. Seeing Marty [Scorsese] of course, that was great. I got a lot of nice gifts. Jack [Nicholson] sent me a beautiful bottle of champagne and a letter congratulating me, as well as Matt and the guys. It was nice–really nice. I wasn´t expecting it, that´s for sure–being with that kind of cast and that kind of movie. It was definitely a nice surprise.

EI: You are an Academy voting member now, aren’t you?

MW: I was for a few years, actually, yeah. But I never voted for myself until I was nominated.

EI: Do you have the sense that this might happen again this year?

MW: You never know. I´m extremely proud of the movie. I thought it was awesome, and I think James, in the future, is going to be one of the great filmmakers out there. It´s just, who knows? We´ll see what happens.

EI: You have become intensely spiritual over the past couple of years–into Catholicism and stuff. Was there a certain incident that made you more spiritual or more religious? Was it just growing up?

MW: Just growing up. I was raised in and around the church. Then, of course, I got to a certain age. I was just roaming around and doing my own thing. I started getting into trouble. If I wanted to be happy, healthy, and positive, then I needed to refocus my spirituality and my faith.

EI: Are you comfortable reading your own reviews?

MW: The good ones are easier to read than the bad ones. I don´t particularly go out to find all the reviews. I´m not on the Internet, so every once in a while they put them in front of you. They will send you a sheet with pros and cons, so it´s all good.

EI: Do you remember reading your first review?

MW: Yes, for Renaissance Man. I actually got a good review. I think it was in The New York Times. They said that I had an interesting screen presence. Then, for Fear, I think they compared me to John Garfield and Robert Ryan. I thought that was cool.

EI: What was it like for you to meet Mickey Ward? As a fight fan yourself, were you a fan of the match-ups? Did that inspire you?

MW: Oh yeah. Mickey and I have been friends for quite some time. I was actually in Miami while he was training [Arturo] Gotti for his last fight against Alfonso Gomez. I spent a week down there with those guys. I speak to Mickey a couple of times a week. Obviously, he wants to know what is happening–is the movie going to happen or not. The guy has more heart than anybody I´ve ever seen step into the ring. More will, more determination, and that´s what I have to be able to deliver day in and day out during the course of making the movie. I am excited about it. I am glad all the other boxing movies that I tried to do fell apart. I really feel like you should only do it once. What better than to get to play Mickey Ward?

EI: What weight class?

MW: I´ve already lost 30 pounds. I have been down. I don´t have to get down to his actual size. Obviously, you cast people the same size as me and it will be fine. It´s been tough. The first eight months were really fun. Then we started working, so I got to get up at 4:30, to go to the gym at 5:00 to be back for a 7:00 pick-up. That gets a little rough after a while.

EI: How are you able to maintain a normal life when you are in a business like this?

MW: It gets a little bit crazy when I´m on location. Other than that, it´s just all about family.

EI: Do you get a certain enjoyment out of doing a supporting role like this or The Departed?

MW: Yeah, I just want to play interesting parts and do good stuff with good people. Whether it´s a big part or a small part, I really don´t care. It was great with We Own the Night in particular. I came in for five weeks. My son had just been born, so I had to wait until he was two weeks old–everybody was settled at home. Then I jumped right in, left the day I finished, and went up to Canada to start with Shooter. It was great for that. Shooter, we had 80 some-odd shooting days. That was tough. Everyday was a long day.

EI: What kind of extra challenges do you face when you are also a producer on the film?

MW: Not much. We really just had to get the money. It was great that we did it for the budget that we did. Originally, at Warner Brothers, they looked at it as a 50 or 60 million dollar movie. This was a labor of love for everybody involved. It was just really a matter of getting it together. James, obviously, lived with this piece of material for eight years. He was really prepared, once he was able to get the camera in place and roll.

EI: Shooter was a franchise. Is there any disappointment that it probably won´t be a franchise for film?

MW: Not at all–not from my end, anyway. I have never done a sequel before. I think they´re disappointed now. They have talked about doing another one, just because the movie on DVD has done what a 100 million dollar movie does. It sold well over four million units. I think it actually outsold Italian Job on DVD. They are scratching their heads, wondering how much money they actually left on the table. We set out to make the movie that we wanted to make. We were happy with the end result. I think we may have compromised a little bit on the ending. When they go and test a movie, people are like, “God, you can´t let this guy go.” So bloodthirsty, so we ended up shooting whoever else was left. [Laughs] I was happy. I think they are all scratching their heads wondering why they weren´t able to capitalize.

EI: Do you know why?

MW: So much goes into it. Picking the right date, the right spot–but all that stuff is out of my hands. I go and make the movie. I like when it´s over because I live with that character until the day it´s done, and then I´m gone. It´s on to the next.

EI: This break coming up, you timed it really well. Do you think a strike is going to happen?

MW: I don’t know. I just hope that everybody is treated fairly–and especially the actors who aren´t fortunate enough to make the big paychecks. Share some of the profits that the studios are making. They are making a lot of money.

EI: Would you encourage your children to be actors?

MW: I wouldn´t initially discourage them. At the end of the day, I´m going to support them in whatever they want to do, for sure.

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