Mark Wahlberg covers the latest issue of Cigar Aficionado. I didn’t even know that he smoked cigars, but I guess a lot of people are quietly smoking cigars and we don’t know until they appear in this magazine. The only reason I’m covering this is because Mark is seemingly previewing his retirement from acting. I honestly don’t remember the last time I saw him in anything… let me look at his IMDB… yeah, I haven’t seen any of his recent films, as he seems to be stuck doing family-oriented and churchy stuff in recent years. Apparently, he’s burned out on that stuff.
He won’t be an actor for much longer: “Well, I’m certainly working harder now than ever. Certain businesses, you kind of build them, pass them on or you exit. Hopefully my kids, we’ll see what their interests are, but I don’t think that I’ll be acting that much longer at the pace I am now. That’s for sure. Because that’s the most difficult thing.”
On Boogie Nights: “When I first heard about the film, the subject matter was not appealing to me. 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. My agents kept pushing me. So I 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.”
Why he began producing: “I was always proactive in trying to find material and things that I could produce, that I knew was right for me, to create my own destiny. If I’m going to be in that position I’d rather be behind the wheel. You’re going 100 miles an hour down the highway, do you want to be in the back seat with no seatbelt or do you want to be behind the wheel?”
[Cigar Aficionado quotes via THR and MSN]
He keeps going on and on about his Boogie Nights regrets and I don’t get it at all – that film turned him from “a rapper with a side-gig in acting” to a bona fide A-list actor. And yes, I know that he committed hate crimes and he’s pretty much an awful person… but I always thought he was sort of talented as an actor. I’m no Wahlberg stan, but he’s a much better actor than most people realized, imo. But if the well is dry, so be it. As I said, he’s been making weird, cheesy family films lately and I get the impression that he’s just not seeing the scripts he’d like.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Mark Wahlberg at the”Wahlburgers” Grand Opening Party and received the key to the Las Vegas Strip The Shoppes at Mandalay Place Las Vegas, Nv March 27, 2023,Image: 765591315, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Mark Wahlberg, Credit line: Arlene Richie / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Mark Wahlberg arrives at the grand opening of Cathedrale Restaurant at ARIA Resort & Casino on April 29, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada,Image: 773067940, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Mark Wahlberg, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
I’d say he’s one heck of an actor.
He’s managed to convince millions of people that he’s worth giving jobs worth millions of dollars to, when really anyone could have done the role.
He’s convinced people he’s worthy of even an iota of respect, and worthy of magazine covers, interviews, after blinding a man in the eye simply because that man is Asian.
He’s even convinced people he is worthy of a pardon for that crime, so he could run for office & further his white supremacy points of view.
Even after his despicable comments about 9/11, his overwhelmingly need to be the white saviour, people still give him the benefit of the doubt & think this man, somehow, is worthy.
Not this girl. Let him rot into oblivion.
Tell ’em sib
I take issue with that he felt “exploited” doing the film. I call BS. I doubt anyone took advantaged of this mega-ego dude. He did Boogie Nights because that is how he saw himself. Catholic guilt sucks.
@Kokiri I read your first sentence and was getting ready to throw down lol, and then I read the rest.
*Chef’s kiss*, that was worded beautifully, very well put.
The fact that a racist like MW got as far as he did in life with zero consequences for his crime….unbelievable!! I have doorknobs around my house that have more acting skills than MW, enough said.
Aside from the fact that he’s a racist thug douchebag, talent had nothing to do with him becoming an actor. He parlayed his Marky Mark persona and silly “rap” (if you can call it that) music into acting gigs. He’s not talented, he’s doesn’t stand out in any way on the screen. He’s just been damn lucky, like his brother, another no talent. Please retire. No one will miss you when you do.
He turned down Brokeback mountain because he’s a huge homophobe. It was supposed to be him and Joaquin Phoenix which would have been amazing casting.
But yea dude is a total jerk. His agent was right to push Boogie nights on him. And yes it totally made his career like Will Smith in 6 degrees of separation (but wouldn’t do the male kiss). The BN role was originally offered to DiCaprio I think. I love casting what if stories.
You know what’s funny? He IS a homophobe, but then he was on an episode of Graham Norton’s show some years ago and seemed to be overserved to the point that he was literally sitting in Graham’s (an out gay man) lap and openly flirting with him — at first it was kind of hot but then even Graham got uncomfortable.
Wahlberg is just a confusing-ass mess of a person.
I saw him in a film called The Happening. My sister and I laughed our way throughout the whole thing.
🤣 😂Hoo, boy–it’s hard to figure which dud put _the_ major kibosh on M. Night’s career, but that’s certainly in the top five. Nobody connected to that was anywhere near their best. And why anyone thought Marky Mark could be a convincing horror-movie protag., well… I can never understand how he kept getting good roles there for a while, for that matter. Why was he in the J. Paul Getty flick, for example? Yeesh…
I so much dislike this guy on a personal level…but I have to admit, he is pretty funny in some of his cheesy family/comic roles.
Can we get that in writing, Mark?
I think he’s a pretty dreadful actor. He was fine in The Departed but that’s because he was playing himself — a foul-mouthed Southy. I saw him in a movie called The Truth About Charlie with Thandiwe Newton and he was forking awful.
It’s been a LONG time but the first thing I ever saw him in was Fear with Reese Witherspoon and he scared tf out of me to the point that I could never find him attractive or look at him in any other way except “the crazy stalker boyfriend”. Again it’s been a long long time since I saw that movie so maybe it hasn’t aged well and the acting isn’t as convincing as I recall, but to a 15yo girl, it was realistic enough. Also I think he’s not a good human.
He was scary in that, I guess because he knew how to tap into “angry, violent man.”
Grant–that Truth About Charlie role should have gone to George Clooney. To put it mildly… Cary Grant played it in the original–an ace thriller called Charade.
Now him and Chris Evans are talking about some type of retirement in recent interviews. The movie industry seems to be at a standstill even with these men benefitting from sexism and are ‘allowed to age ‘ unlike women they still don’t see roles they’re interested in because no mid budget movies made anymore
I have a basic litmus test. Are my in laws obsessed with the thing? If yes, hard pass.
They are major right wing Christian fundamentalists who voted for trump twice and can not stfu about Marky Mark. It’s too bad because I do think he’s a good actor. But yeah. He’s not a good person.
I’ll admit I thought the “Ted” movies were funny but that wasn’t because of him, it was because of the bear.
He’s a decent actor but he’s a POS.
The only movie I saw and liked him in was Boogie Nights. Would never watch one of his crap movies now. Stop acting already.
Promises, promises