Mark Wahlberg Talks About Taking on Producing Out of Necessity After Years of Waiting for Other A-List Actors to Pass on Roles

Mark Wahlberg is best known for his roles in Boogie Nights, The Departed, The Fighter, and many more movies over the last few decades, but he says it hasn’t been easy landing any of those roles, which is the driving force behind his beginning a career as a producer.

Wahlberg said in an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine (via Variety) that one of the reasons he pivoted to producing was because it became clear in his acting work that he’d always be taking a backseat to fellow mega-stars like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. Starting around The Fighter in 2010, Wahlberg became a producer or an executive producer on nearly all of his major releases.

The actor explained:

“I started becoming a producer out of necessity. I didn’t want to sit around waiting for Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise or whoever was already established before me and were the guys at the time, and Leo [DiCaprio], to go and pass on a movie until I could get my hands on it. I was always proactive in trying to find material and things that I could produce, that I knew was right for me, create my own destiny.”

Wahlberg added that with producing and acting credits under his belt, what he wants to do next is try his hand at directing and “working with some of the other great talents. Working with the next batch of great talent.” He noted that the future of his career will probably include an acting slow down after several years in which he’s had multiple new films release.

He went on:

“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.”

Wahlberg hasn’t appeared in a movie this year, but had several 2022 releases with films such as Uncharted, Me Time, and Father Stu. His upcoming releases include the Apple original film The Family Plan, co-starring Michelle Monaghan, and the action film Our Man From Jersey, co-starring Halle Berry.