These are photos of Mark Wahlberg (and Stanley Tucci!) last week on the set of Transformers 4. I would cry some tears for Tucci, but after realizing that John Freaking Malkovich appeared in Transformers 3, I have realized that no actor is above a quick money grab. Meanwhile, Mark is still promoting 2 Guns (his buddy movie with Denzel Washington). Just yesterday, we touched upon two issues of this story. I discussed how Mark told Justin Bieber to pull up his pants and stop acting like a little “b—–“, and Kaiser covered Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp blaming the critics for the abysmal failure of The Lone Ranger.
Now Wahlberg has spoken with the LA Times about the apocalyptic (in industry terms) flop of The Lone Ranger, which has caused Depp to threaten to retire from his rather prolific acting career. As I said a few weeks ago, the problem with Lone Ranger was not only Tonto’s bird-head but the Ranger‘s massive, $250 million (plus publicity) budget. Surprisingly, Mark Wahlberg is of a similar mind:
On The Lone Ranger problem: “First and foremost, the media is targeting all these movies. There’s intense scrutiny on us, way more than before. They are spending so much money to pull the wool over the audience’s eyes with these effects-driven movies. It’s not like Jurassic Park, where you saw something groundbreaking and innovative and said ‘Holy … I gotta see that. Every end-of-the-Earth movie kind of feels the same.’ They’re spending $250 million for two dudes on a horse? Where’s the money going?”
But Wahlberg don’t play that game: “Transformers is a different thing. What Michael’s been able to do is elevate the material and take the human element to a whole other place. Having the father-daughter relationship [that Wahlberg’s character figures into] is so much more interesting. Michael Bay isn’t going to be in a situation where a movie is $100 million over budget. I’ve never seen anyone that can manage the entire thing so single-handedly and seamlessly.”
[From LA Times]
As annoying as Mark Wahlberg usually presents himself to be — remember, he would have killed all the 9/11 terrorists, given the chance — I have to agree. Why did Disney spend $250 million other than to secure Johnny Depp? Sure, they spent several million on special effects and threw a few million the way of an unproven Armie Hammer, but an unjustifiable amount went to Depp. And yes, this was for a Western, and these sorts of movies historically hold absolutely no international appeal. As much as it pains me to admit, at least we know that Wahlberg and Michael Bay’s phallic robots will make enough money to justify their own overblown budget. And Johnny Depp can throw all the tantrums that he desires, but at least he received his salary. This time, anyway.
Photos courtesty of Fame/Flynet
Marky Mark is full of snark!
He has been quite vocal lately, eh?
Anyone else getting the idea that MM is excessively name-dropping – referencing Bieber, Depp – to drum up publicity for his own project? He knows it will get him headlines…
Indeed he has.
He acts like Justin Bieber. Spoiled,overly entitled douchebag. Who does he think he is?
a guy with a #1 movie and a 66 million budget throwing shade at a 250 mill movie and a 190 mill loss, b/c Hollywood said marky mark would never amount to anything.. famous last words. his new movie w/ Christian bale looks good too.
He is so full of himself. I just don’t like him at all.
Disney spent that money because Johnny Depp has made them a boat load of money and they wouldn’t have done that for many other actors. I think Johnny/Disney for some reason thought there was a market for TLR. Which there wasn’t. Besides that I don’t know where all that marketing money went, because the biggest premier was at Disney. Outside of that the Premiers were very MEH.
But back to Mark. For some reason he is really full of himself and I really don’t know where that arrogance comes from.
I cant stand this cocky b*tch either. He gives new meaning to hypocrit. Go make your shitty robot movie thats really a deep exploration of father-daughter relationships (b*tch please!) with your exemplary director………Michael Bay (lol), you stupid ass. I shouldnt say that though, he might not tackle the next terrorist who takes a plane hostage and where will we, cowards that we are, be then?
“But back to Mark. For some reason he is really full of himself and I really don’t know where that arrogance comes from.”
It seems to be a Wahlberg thing. I met Donnie, his older brother and he is very arrogant as well.
Please, you’re expecting humility from someone who’s boning Jenny McCarthy?
It pains me to say anything positive about Marky Mark or Michael Bay, however, Marky Mark is a very successful producer, so he knows what he is talking about, and Michael Bay never ever goes over budget and knows his audience meaning that his films always make money.
Disney gambled on Johnny Depp’s seeming invisibility at the box office. The budget was overblown to begin with, and kept getting bigger as they shot the film.
Disney has latterly been throwing money at these films as if they have a bottomless fund….$350M for that atrocity JOHN CARTER!!!!
From a mercenary perpective, if Disney are willing to meet Johnny’s financial demands, why not?? It’s shortsighted of him, but hey, he’s got an island to maintain!!!!
Exactly. I know the Transformers movies aren’t for everyone. I know Michael Bay is a skeevy producer, but those movies make bank. He knows what his audiences like and he gives it to them.
There is no way Lone Ranger should have cost $250+ million. It’s a freaking western. The budget was bloated because the egos of those making it was bloated. They thought they could put this crap out there & because Johnny was headlining it, people would flock to see it. Uh…no.
Marky Mark is a cocky, d-bag…no doubt in my mind……BUT, he is a very successful movie/tv show producer. He has a valid point. His producer success allows him to make whatever kind of movies he wants to make.
Well, I would quite enjoy a *good* Lone Ranger film, or any *good* film centring on two dudes and a horse. Why not?
Still, there’s a glimpse of Stanley Tucci here – and he is definitely worth the click.
I’m sorry, did he just say that Michael Bay ELEVATED THE MATERIAL? Ok, I am gonna go clean up after choking on my tea…
Hahaha @Anna. I had the same reaction.
You’d have to think Michael Bay isn’t a first floor office kind of guy, so to get the script up there, he’d use the elevator … right?
LMAO!!! Exactly, Ana.
Dude’s talking like Michael Bay is Scorsese or some shit.
Dislike Mark. He’s so full of it. But on this occasion he’s not wrong and he looks very good in the photos.
I’m not a Mark Wahlberg fan but he is a good businessman. He’s made an awful lot of money producing movies and not just starring in them. Smart move.
I think that’s what alot of people don’t realize. He’s not just an actor, he’s got producing credits on some of the most successful stuff out there (Entourage, Boardwalk Empire). I think he’s got a right to be cocky. And I actually worked with him once and he was a pretty stand up guy. One day some woman practically tackled him screaming and he handled it pretty graciously and posed for a photo instead of yelling for security.
Here’s another example of what a cool dude he is.
http://gawker.com/mark-wahlberg-to-fan-who-mistook-him-for-matt-damon-c-1071803979
I <3 him 🙂 i think he’s a good guy all around with a bit of all American asshole in him lol
“What Michael’s been able to do is elevate the material and take the human element to a whole other place.”
Michael Bay – likes dogs, gets movies in on budget and is a Jedi Knight, with amazing mind-control powers.
Nothing else can explain MW speaking those words!
Two dudes on a horse or a horse’s ass, decisions, decisions. Slim pickins me thinks.
Well maybe they should have put “Slim Pickens” and Gene Wilder in the movie (and have Richard Pryor and Mel Brooks write it) and it could have been more like Blazing Saddles. Now that would have been worth the $250 mil.
I just watched that on TV recently. Gene Wilder was insane in it. Madeline Kahn was brilliant. I’m so tired, so tired…of being admired.
Loved Blazing Saddles. Not sure if people today are still into Mel Brooks movies though. You have to have a certain sense of humor for that stuff.
@Jane, Some of it was very funny and some of it was too slap-sticky/silly for me.
I love Blazing Saddles.
“Rape, murder, arson and rape.”
“You said rape twice.”
“I like rape.”
I can’t even imagine someone like Tarantino getting away with that now.
@Sixer, Brooks was a trail-blazer indeed. Did you see his long interview on PBS? That was what got me interested in watching and rewatching some of his films after.
Throw out your hands!
Stick out your tush!
Hands on your hips
Give them a push!
You’ll be surprised
You’re doing the French Mistake!
VOILA!
@ Kiddo – I’m in the UK, so haven’t seen. But I’m a longstanding fan. I’m a great believer in humour shining a light on things we prefer not to talk about or can only talk about in anger, and nobody (except perhaps Chris Morris in the UK) does it better’n Brooks.
Replying to self
“Anybody got a dime? Now we got to go back and get a sh!tload of dimes!!!!”
When you skewer everyone (and it is funny), then no one is offended. This movie could not be made today though.
@Sixer, Yeah, one of the things he mentioned in that interview was how he had been criticized for making Hitler funny. His response was, paraphrased, that if you react with anger or seriousness you, in essence, dignify the person. Brooks said Hitler didn’t deserve that, so he simply made fun of him and demonstrated how absurd he was, no dignity.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2342096739/
i love most of his films, but TO BE OR NOT TO BE is hands down my favourite Mel Brooks film.
It doesn’t have classic, quotable lines, nor is it full of gags like his other films, he tones his usual act and that makes it more powerful.
Thanks, Kiddo. I shall watch that tomorrow.
HAHAHAAHHAHAAH actors are so full of themselves. TLR is an overbudgetted POS but Transformers? Really?
Elevating the material?! Oh do shut up Marky Mark. You took a paycheck job, get over yourself.
Actually China and Korea like Westerns. It’s kind of weird but true.
Still, Transformers ‘transcends’ nothing. It’s a vehicle to sell toys and boobs. And this is coming from someone who adores “crappy” movies like the Fast and Furious series and Pacific Rim. Why?
Because they know what they are and don’t try to be more than what they are. If I want ‘transcendent father-daughter relationships’, I’d watch an episode of Taboo on National Geographic.
Oh come on, it’s easy to diss something after the fact.
Yes, he might have done well producing, and I do like his acting, but he is still such an annoying prick.
Yeah, after reading that Marky-Mark here liked to throw rocks at black students, and blinded an asian guy, for being asian (which I wouldn’t even be mentioning if he had, I don’t know, APOLOGIZED, to his victims, gave them financial compensation, AND donated to some anti-racism group, and showed some REMORSE over what he did), I ain’t listening to anything he has to say.
Reading that stuff yesterday gives me a whole new meaning to his role in ‘The Departed’. In that scene w/Leo and Martin Sheen, at the job interview, Wahlberg said something like ‘And some people want to slam a n*gg*rs head through a plate-glass window’…..I don’t know if the character was racist or just trying to get to Leo’s character, but knowing what I know now about Wahlberg….how far off is that from his real attitude? It’s disgusting. He should be treated the same as Chris Brown, as he’s shown no remorse from his actions. He’s not even that talented. Being able to say your lines and curse isn’t acting. ANYONE could replace him and do it better.
Whatevs, I’m done.
Thank you for bringing this up. It should be every time his name pops up in an article. Here’s a link to what he did just in case no one knows about it:
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/01/mark-wahlberg-was-a-drug-dealer-and-was-charged-with-attempted-murder-before-forming-marky-mark-and-the-funky-bunch/
You know, we give Justin Bieber a lot of flack for being a douche, but to my knowledge he’s never blinded a person in a racially motivated attack. I wonder how his victim feels every time he hears his name or sees one of his crappy movies promoted at a local theatre.
His comments on 9-11 at the bottom make my eyes roll so hard I think I heard a pop. “Everyone” would’ve done something bad assed if they were on the plane, of course.
Between yesterday’s post and this link, I will officially never watch anything Marky Mark The Super Awesome Guy (who attacks the innocent and unsuspecting because he just happens to be a racist) in anything ever again. Not, I must say, that I ever did. He sucks. Thank goodness he passed on Brokeback because that was a really good movie and he would have ruined it.
I am with you when it comes to Marky Mark. I think he fills the industry’s niche role of “bad ass street white boy.” Sean Penn held that position for awhile. Justin Beiber has it now. Pink is the female equivalent IMO.
Re: Depp – how many times can you go see him in a role where he wears elaborate makeup before it gets old? Every role is a variation of Edward Scissorhands in one way or another. At least that what it seems like to me. I think he is a good actor in need of a break. Last thing, I didn’t like the premise of the old Tonto / Lone Ranger movies/series when I was a kid anyway. So perhaps I am biased.
While it’s laughable to say that Mochael Bay elevates the material he works with, I think the other half of his comment was interesting — Bay makes very big, very complicated (from a technical standpoint) movies, and it is a skill to consistently come in on budget when doing that. It also means that the studio has a fair shot to decide whether they think the movie will be profitable — most of the big flops lately might have been fine if they hadn’t exploded their budget during filming. So props to Michael Bay? I can’t believe I’m saying that.
I have a massive crush on Optimus Prime and Stanley Tucci.
Oh hooray, Miss Eyre! It’s not just me then. May we invite the Tucci to, well, cucci, at Thornfield on high days and holidays?
Move along please. Nothing to see here. Replying in the wrong place, as per.
As a kid, I had a crush on Jazz and Bumblebee.
@Sixer – 1) Good lord – is he not already here? Mr. Cucci-Tucci should be given his own suite. Make haste, woman!
2) You basically have to step on a kitten to not be invited to Thornfield. Even idiots who spit on The Feminine Mystique are gagged and led to the basement (where they are rehabilitated.) I really am shamelessly unencumbered by standards.
@OKitt – Bubblebee makes me laugh and I would love to grab a beer with him. But Optimus, when he says “You are making a grave mistake” – lube me up and hoist my chassis. I also had a real thing for Laufey in Thor… I love big things with great voices (and a powerful engine isn’t bad either.)
It’s just that I’d never seen him there, Miss Eyre. You run a very cordial establishment, I must say. Happy times.
I really don’t like Mark at all, but…he’s right in this case. There’s no need to spend a quarter of a billion dollars to make a movie like that. The studios sink so much into that type of thing, plus marketing, they start in such a big hole. And then if a film isn’t good and word of mouth goes bad…
Precisely. If you are going to spend a quarter mill, at least protect your investment without being so damn lazy with the production of the movie.
Anyone who says anything positive about Michael Bay makes me immediately not like them as much.
Would have thought Disney learned their lesson after the John Carter fiasco.
I still don’t understand that movie even after multiple viewings on Starz
-_-
Try reading the book on which film is based.
It’s a 5 book series that was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1930s/40s. The film is an adaptation of the first book in the series: The Princess of Mars.
The sci-fi ideas may be simple or bizarre, but it’s pretty inventive considering time frame it was written in and the advances in technology since then.
FYI, he also wrote Tarzan.
My sister and I were just talking about this exact thing, how you used to sit back and watch a movie like Jurassic Park and go, “Wow! How did they do that?!” But that doesn’t really happen anymore, because you know (or at least presume) that all the special effects are just CGI. It’s like watching a magic show knowing how the illusion is performed – it takes away a great deal of the entertainment when there’s no mystery left.
Yes. I actually like the old movies where the special effects were hand made. Even if they don’t look “realistic”, there is so much effort and hands-on talent that they suck you into a mindset where you can imagine them being realistic.
I’m not saying CGI isn’t amazing to look at sometimes, but Hollywood relies far too much on it. Movies are stories, not CGI showcases.
This is why I barely see these “blockbuster” or “tentpole” or “superhero” movies anymore.
Agreed – I remember seeing the trailer for Green Lantern, and saying to my friend that it looked like Ryan Reynold’s head was just floating through a CGI disaster.
In some cases, CGI is necessary and worthwhile, but in most, practical effects look way better.
He’s such a douche canoe. He flipped me off in traffic one time, and he blinded a guy. On two recorded occasions he just attacked Asian guys for being Asian.
He flipped me off in traffic one time, and he blinded a guy.
This shouldn’t be funny, but it made me laugh. Also it sounds like the contorted lyrics of a Tom Waits song, so it appeals to me.
LOL I hate to trivialize the hate-blinding of a man, but he flipped me off in traffic before I knew about that, so I hated him for being a douche driver first. Tom Waits! I love you! It’s boat music.
Ironically I’m listening to a podcast right now where a previous guest related a similar story of being flipped off in traffic by Marky-Mark because of his bumper sticker. When Marky flipped ME off it was because I wasn’t passing a guy fast enough.
There you have it: two counts of flipping the bird in traffic. There must be thousands of others, we should start a club.
Mark Whalberg is a total dick, and he’s always been a total dick. However, it turns out he is VERY sharp when it comes to the business of making movies amd television, and he boiled down the disaster of TLR in about 2 sentences.
By the way, Hollyood should be worried if Marky Mark is one of its savviest producers.
couldn’t have said it better. I LOVE people who don’t mince words throwing shade on Hwood nonsense, who have the chops to back it up.
Yes, that first sight of dinosaurs in Jurassic Park was pretty special. And those raptors were actually scary. Now we’re just immune to all the CGI.
He is the biggest douchebag in Hollywood. And he is still a hood trash – will always be. He is so not concerned about the creative side of this industry. All he cares about is making money and becoming a moviestar on paper. He is the less obvious Will Smith, that’s all.
Also Michael Bay is not capable of elevating anything – he is a hack who happens to be the perfect director for the teen boy generation of our times. Perfect actor for the perfect director.
PS: He happens to be right about the expenditure/cost of these ridiculous movies. I bet Johny Depp has one of the most ridiculous riders of the whole entertainment industry. He looks like the type who’d make the studios fill up his private jet’s gas tank just to make a trip across the Atlantic.
I love Mark Wahlberg….he’s awesome!
Technically, weren’t they on two different horses?
lol!
Really Mark? Snarking on “Lone Ranger” as an overblown, effects-ridden piece of trash, while simultaneously starring in an overblown, effects-ridden piece of trash?
When he’s not in it its a dud but when he’s in it it’s art? Transformers 4 sounds real good on your resume.
Idiot.
Did you know Tonto means “dumb” in spanish?
I love me some mark! His cocky attitude is sexy as he has earned it. And generally, I agree with him. Who cares if he is in transformers? I mean, nothing surprises me after Ted, which I did find pretty funny.
Wahlberg & his family are pretty typical Boston-Irish neighborhood toughs who escalated into violent thugs, low-end socioeconomics, uneducated, & rude.
The long criminal history in this family indicates a big hole somewhere in their code of morality.
Mark-y et. al. have lots of financial success, but it’s hard for me to believe that their business practices are always clean.
@RPG-Not to mention his alter ego is DDub and calls his fans his soldiers.
This coming from a guy that played a “Rock Star” and some science teacher, both horribly. Lol, its looking like this guy either has the hots for Mr. Depp or is drinking some strong Hater-aid.