Mark Wahlberg thought ‘Boogie Nights’ was going to be “absolutely terrible”
American actor Mark Wahlberg has revealed the initial hesitancy he felt to take on the leading role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights.
The actor got his start in the entertainment industry as a musician, fronting the hip-hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch before transitioning to the big screen. However, it wasn’t until he landed the leading role in Anderson’s movie, portraying porn star Dirk Diggler, that his career in Hollywood took off.
Before Boogie Nights, Wahlberg had minor roles in movies like Renaissance Man and The Basketball Diaries and one leading role in the poorly received thriller Fear alongside Reese Witherspoon.
When he was approached to star in Anderson’s second film, Wahlberg was worried that it would be an exploitative endeavour. “When I first heard about the film, the subject matter was not appealing to me,” he told Cigar Aficionado magazine.
“I came from the whole Marky Mark thing, pulling down my pants, Calvin Klein underwear — I didn’t know if this was just the next level of exploiting me and now all of a sudden we have to lose the underwear,” he explained to the publication.
Despite his worries, he revealed that his “agents kept pushing me.” Therefore, he “read the first 25, 30 pages, and I kind of put it down. I was like this could be something great, or this could be absolutely terrible.”
Boogie Nights launched Wahlberg to stardom and gave Anderson greater recognition as one of the 1990s’ most significant new directors. Following his role as Diggler, the actor went on to find great success, racking up several Academy Award nominations over the years.
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