The one kind of movie Mark Wahlberg never wants to make
There are many ways one can fill one’s schedule when one becomes a giant Hollywood success. Some prefer to lunch for hours on end, noting it in their diaries as “networking”, while others will spend countless hours in the writer’s room. However, you like to spend your time, being busy in Hollywood is a part of the job. For that matter, Mark Wahlberg is a busy man.
Viral daily schedules aside, this is someone who owns a long-running series of burger restaurants (the charmingly named Wahlburgers with his brothers Donnie and Paul), gym chains, and nutrition companies: the kind of portfolio you’d associate with Elon Musk rather than with the actor who played Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights.
Somehow, in between being a full time business man, Wahlberg has racked up a filmography spanning every genre you can think of and worked with some of the most acclaimed film makers available to him, from The Fighter with David O. Russell to The Departed with Martin Scorsese (even if their relationship was seemingly quite contentious.)
Despite all of his success and endeavours, there is one type of film that Wahlberg has assured audiences he will never dip his toe into.
In a discussion with The Guardian about a possible move to the director’s chair, it seems that Wahlberg has both coveted the idea and prepared himself for the backlash. The actor isn’t exactly known for having the most artistic delicacy and the idea of him being behind the camera won’t fill the most diehard of arthouse fans with excitement. But for Wahlberg, a love of cinema seems enough to push him towards doing such a thing.
But while possibly becoming a filmmaker instead of an integral part of a film, Wahlberg vowed never to take on one piece of the cinematic tapestry: “I enjoy all kinds of films, except musicals. When I find that particular story that I want to tell, I’ll let everyone know.”
Now, this is obviously heartbreaking to anyone who’s seen Wahlberg’s turn in 2010’s The Other Guys and knows that the man is clearly gifted in the art of dance, although his vocal showcase in Boogie Nights definitely left something to be desired. However, it isn’t surprising to most fans.
As humorous as it may be, to some, this will be disappointing none the less. Wahlberg has continued to distance himself from his more celebrated roles, like those in Boogie Nights and Pain and Gain, shunning them for more straightforward action roles for the majority of the last decade.
Wahlberg hasn’t often moved out of the comfortable character space of “brutish man with a roguish yet affable charm” and seems unlikely to move that schtick into dancing shoes any time soon. But one can’t help but wonder how he would approach the opportunity. Alas, anyone hoping for Wahlberg to show up in Baz Luhrmann’s next all-singing, all-dancing biopic might be waiting a long time.
