The moment Mark Wahlberg realised he wasn’t cut out for method acting: “This is a practical joke”
When you think of method acting, certain stars will inevitably spring to mind: Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman. Meanwhile, in more recent years, the likes of Jeremy Strong and Jared Leto have indulged in the craft, with decidedly mixed results on-screen – and mostly derision off-screen. However, it’s highly unlikely you’d ever think of Mark Wahlberg as someone who would use the highfalutin, if now controversial, technique – and that’s for good reason. You see, he encountered a couple of method actors once and quickly realised it wasn’t for him.
Obviously, if you look back on Wahlberg’s career, you will see many traditionally tough guy roles. He’s played more than his fair share of cops, criminals, military personnel, and generally grizzled men of action with large biceps. To Wahlberg, these “guy’s guy” characters have always come naturally, and he’s not had to do much soul-searching to learn how to play them.
In 2012, Wahlberg told The Guardian: “I can always see something of myself in the characters I play. Sure, I enjoy playing just a straightforward guys’ guy. I think that’s what people expect, and that’s what people enjoy seeing me do.” Wahlberg admitted that he spent time around many police officers and criminals as he grew up on the mean streets of Boston, so when he plays those roles, he can easily channel those experiences.
For example, he joked that when he played Staff Sergeant Dignam in The Departed, his co-stars Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio started researching their parts – but not Wahlberg. He quipped, “I was like, ‘For what?’ Eighteen years of dealing with cops. I know how to act like one.”
Having said this, Wahlberg confessed that he doesn’t like it when people think he can only play tough guys. At that time, he was on the promotional trail for Seth MacFarlane’s foul-mouthed comedy Ted, where he played John Bennett, a loser who mostly smoked weed and hung out with his talking teddy bear from childhood.
He explained: “I said I can always see something of myself in the characters I play, and you assume that means I can only play big tough guys.”
Wahlberg stated he saw much of his childhood in Bennett, though. “Here’s this bullied little kid, a guy who has no friends and gets beat up a lot, and he makes his bear his best friend,” he said. “I was the youngest of nine kids. There’s always something I can relate to. I don’t always need to be beating someone up!”
At this point, the interviewer joked, “So, you’re definitely not a method actor?” and it clearly tickled Wahlberg. He began excitedly recounting an anecdote in a way which would make the likes of Day-Lewis and Strong bristle with thespian fury. He grinned, “I was in a rehearsal for a movie that never got made with a very famous actor and director. And they decided to do this acting exercise.”
A bemused Wahlberg was then forced to close his eyes along with these two unnamed titans of cinema as they began to imagine water, the colour blue, and the quiet refuge they sought in childhood when they wanted to be alone. Both actors were sobbing uncontrollably when Wahlberg opened his eyes, and Wahlberg couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. In truth, it shocked him, and he couldn’t help thinking, “This is a practical joke,” but it was no joke.
It’s safe to say that Wahlberg was the wrong audience for Lee Strasberg’s legendary method – which has helped actors around the world access their most interior emotions with startling verisimilitude. He felt he didn’t need any of that weird actor-y nonsense to deliver a performance and concluded – with typical tough guy brio – “I guess I’m pretty lucky I have a lot of real-life experiences to draw my sad emotions from, so I didn’t have to think about where I wanted to ‘be alone as a boy’. Give me a break.”
