Mark Wahlberg: I couldn't 'cheat' on director

Mark Wahlberg wanted to “service the director’s vision” for this latest movie, so stopped gaining weight for another role.

The star plays a private detective who is hired by the mayor in Broken City. Mark’s character Billy Taggart is asked to look into the mayor’s wife, who he thinks is being unfaithful. As the story continues, Billy uncovers corruption and has to make hard decisions.

Before shooting began on the release, Mark was preparing to portray a bodybuilder in Pain & Gain. It soon became apparent that he would need a totally different look for each picture.

“I started training for Pain & Gain before I went into Broken City but the director said, ‘Don’t cheat me. I want you to be as thin as possible… this detective is very thin, flawed, mysterious… I don’t want you looking like a bodybuilder in training.’ So I obliged him obviously, because not only as a producer but as an actor I wanted to service the director and the writer’s vision. So I lost weight for that and then I got up to 212lbs,” he told UK TV show Lorraine.

Mark was quizzed on how he manages to make such huge changes to his physique for roles – he famously trained for four years to accurately portray boxer Micky Ward in The Fighter.

As well as prepping for roles, he has four children with his wife Rhea Durham, but has no problem fitting everything into his busy schedule.

“I get up very early. I go to bed at 8.30pm every night and I wake up usually at 4.30am. And I remember where I came from. I’m very, very appreciative of the situation I’m in; I don’t have a sense of entitlement. Working hard is a benefit,” he said.