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Entertainment Tonight
Interview
August 13, 2001
MARK STEINES: How did it feel when you saw yourself up there with leather and on stage?
MARK WAHLBERG: Well, when I saw the finished product I was satisfied, but the actual process was very difficult. My hair's never been longer than this. It was tough. The clothes were a bit uncomfortable. But we had such a blast.
MS: Did you like being a rock star?
MW: I did, but I can't survive as a rock star. I had a
brief stint in music, and I was getting into too much trouble, and my audience only consisted of 13-year-old girls and their parents.
MS: That will still get you into trouble today. (laugh)
MW: That's a different kind of trouble, but the rock world, it's just fascinating, the life that these guys lived. It's pretty wild.
MS: You had mentioned your hair never being longer than this, yet you kept everything on and just submerged yourself into this character, for a long time.
MW: I was lucky. Doing 'Perfect Storm,' I had already signed on to do this movie and I was either wet or had my hat on. So, I was able to grow my hair for about a year and a half, and really be able to hide it well. But when they put the extensions in, I couldn't dress up as me the person, with these extensions, so I just went all out, and basically it was a license to just go crazy.
MS: And you just left it in wherever you went?
MW: I couldn't take it out. It was in for six months.
MS: Did people recognize you?
MW: They always thought I was AXL ROSE or somebody.
MS: You guys put on a concert, like a real show, just to get warmed up for this.
MW: Actually, just to have an audience to shoot, because there are a lot of concert scenes in the movie, and we would've had to get 20,000 extras for something like 5 weeks. So, we decided, why not throw a benefit concert, we got all these bands to perform like MEGADETH, WHITESNAKE, and WASP, and we opened up for them. The audience didn't know who we were. And, we got a reception the first time. I actually did the fall, I don't want to give anything away in the movie, but it was the moment where something happens on stage and everything stops ... they were really freaked
out, and I had the tube of blood in my pocket, and I squirted it all over my head. Then we had to perform it for a second time, and they started to get a little antsy because these are real fans coming to see Megadeth, and they don't want to see "Marky Mark" running around on stage b.s.-ing.
MS: Now, were you singing?
MW: I sing a lot of it. I sang throughout the whole thing and it was up to Steve to use my vocals when it was good and if they had to dub any of it. They were certainly more than welcome to dub anything.
MS: What kind of homework did you do for this? Did you get out and study rock stars?
MW: I was hanging out with VINCE NEIL, the guys from Megadeth. I went to all these concerts and hung out with OZZY at the Ozzfest, and performed a little bit with KORN, they got me on the stage, singing. I had a blast. It was fun. People were always like, "What the hell are you doing here?" Because I was doing it months it advance...
MS: What do you think the audience should take home with them after they see this?
MW: Well, I think everybody's going to get to go on that ride and see what it's like to be a rock star -- the good sides and the bad sides.
MS: The trappings of fame, if you will.
MW: Yes, the movie is so funny, has so much heart. It's by far my favorite of all the movies I've done.
MS: What was it like working with JENNIFER (ANISTON)?
MW: She's fantastic. It's a challenging role, to just kind of jump into that world and let everything go. It was a big risk for her. But, she's fantastic in the part.
MS: So you sit down, and you have a romantic scene, a love scene ... is it very mechanical? Do you guys just sit down and go, let's go for it and whatever happens happens?
MW: (smile) I might have wanted to just go for it, but... (laugh)
I don't think she was into the idea. At certain times, things got a bit out of
hand, because we had a lot of the real guys in the movie, and you can't say, hey guys, just stop being a rock star for a second and be a disciplined actor. I mean, you get what you're paying for. But with us, it was very professional. But we had such a great chemistry because we were both so committed to the project and believed in the material.
MS: Was BRAD (PITT) on the set? That could make it difficult.
MW: He came by once or twice. But, he's a great guy.
MS: Did he pull you aside and say, "Listen here, I'm still in my
first year of marriage, buddy?"
MW: No, they weren't married at the time.
MS: Oh, they weren't?
MW: No, this was before they got married. But (smile) that doesn't mean anything happened. He came by the night we actually did the concert, and I think a couple of other days that we were on the stage, but just to come by and say hi and be supportive.
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