When Mark Wahlberg Joined BOOGIE NIGHTS He Was Nervous About Being Exploited and Scared the Movie Would Be Terrible

For better or worse, one of the biggest movies in Mark Wahlberg’s acting career is Boogie Nights. Before taking the role, he was better known for his Calvin Klein underwear ads and his Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch music career than for his acting, though he had starred in the films The Basketball Diaries and Fear. He just hadn’t solidified himself as a Hollywood leading man yet, and his next choices would shape his future career.

Before Wahlberg accepted the role of aspiring porn star Dirk Diggler in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights. The 1997 drama made Wahlberg a bonafide movie star, but he wasn’t immediately sold on the role. Speaking to Cigar Aficionado magazine, Wahlberg admitted he feared Boogie Nights might exploit him.

“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.”

Wahlberg continued:

“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.”

During a 2017 appearance at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago with Cardinal Blasé Cupich, Wahlberg said he partially regretted starring in Boogie Nights. He added at the time, “I just always hope that God is a movie fan and also forgiving, because I’ve made some poor choices in my past. Boogie Nights is up there at the top of the list.”

He later clarified his remarks to People magazine, saying, “I was sitting in front of a couple of thousand kids talking about and trying to encourage them to come back to their faith, and I was just saying that I just hope [God] has a sense of humor because I maybe made some decisions that may not be okay with.”

“I don’t want to compromise my artistic integrity or choices based on my faith or my family, but I also have other things to consider, and being a little bit older and a little wiser, the idea of having to explain that movie and the reason behind it to my kids is another issue,” Wahlberg added.

Wahlberg will next appear in the Apple original film The Family Plan, co-starring Michelle Monaghan, and the action film Our Man From Jersey, co-starring Halle Berry.

via: Variety