Mark Wahlberg Won't Play Max Payne Video Game - Cites Addictive Personality

Ripten writes:

"Mark Wahlberg, the actor slated to play Max Payne in the upcoming film based on the popular video game franchise, states that he has not played, and will not play the video game. Why? Because he says he has an addictive personality, and that, combined with his other adult responsibilities, simply won't mesh well."

[pwnsause]

MAX PAYNE= BAD MOVIE CONFIRMED. in order to know the character that you are playing as, you are supposed to study that character, just as How Heath Ledger studied on how to become the Joker's Character. Max Payne's story originated from a game. it was not only a great game, it had a superior story and the story telling in the game showed you each character's personality in that game.

[Nostradavis]

I agree pwnsause. This trend is really strange. I mean, first we have Brett Favre on the cover of Madden flat out saying he doesn't play the game and practically can't stand it.

Now we have a guy that pranced around in his underwear saying that he simply can not allow himself to play a video game because he lacks the self control needed to pull himself away????

I am so fed up.

[psycho360]

I dont know if he's making an excuse cuz to have such a great body definately requires dedication and self control. Maybe he's a guy whose not into video games, believe me i know people whom i forced to try some games but they rather sleep than play games.

[Nostradavis]

OK psych, but this sounds worse than just saying "I don't really like videogames." This sounds like he has no self control, which assuming it isn't easy to have negative 12% body fat, is a bunch of bull.

A person with an addictive personality (as severe as he is implying) would likely eat one potato chip and weigh 4000lbs three days later.

[psycho360]

NOstradavis, I dont know what happened to my reading comprehension but i can't seem to get what you're saying.

BTW I'm not the one who disagreed.

[syanara]

WHY IS THIS EVEN NEWS? so what the max payne actor dosent like to play max payne cause hes got an addictive personality. WHO THE FU*K cares!

[Nostradavis]

This trend is really strange. I mean, first we have Brett Favre on the cover of Madden flat out saying he doesn't play the game and practically can't stand it.

Now we have a guy that pranced around in his underwear saying that he simply can not allow himself to play a video game because he lacks the self control needed to pull himself away????

I am so fed up.

[C_SoL]

but it's too late.

[Jack Meahoffer]

When I first heard he got the role I thought he was way too short to play the great Max Payne. Now he comes out and says he hasn't and won't play the game?! The hill is already steep for making a half way decent video game movie this kind of stuff while not critical clearly doesn't help. This is another reason to set your expectations for this movie very very low. Its most likely going to be another epic fail video game movie.

Markie Mark needs to get some "Good Vibrations" and STFU.

[Nineball2112]

why it matters how a movie turns out based on whether an actor in the movie actually plays the video game that the movie is based on. That honestly confounds me...

So, playing the game will enhance his acting skills? I suppose it could possibly help him "get in character", but hell, someone else who played the game could feel him in on what's like or for that matter he could just watch someone else play the game.

I actually understand where he's coming from. My wife is not a gamer, and my gaming has caused more then our fair share of arguments. It's pretty difficult to try and play a game in 30 minute or 1 hour intervals (at least one that has a story line and is involving, not to mention challenging).

[Jack Meahoffer]

"So, playing the game will enhance his acting skills?"

No but it might help him get "into" the characters head and understand his motivations. The movie is based on a game wouldn't you want the actor to experience the character in the medium in which the character was brought to life?

Honestly can't see how this would "confound" you. Its not about making his acting skills better its about knowing HOW to act. You can be the best actor in the world if you don't understand the character you will fail.

There is already a lot of talk about this being a watered down crime movie that has little to do with the original story... Now this is more evidence.

Its sounding more like this movie will be CSI the movie with a lead character named Max that may have murdered his family.

[B Man]

If you were rich and could get practically any girl you wanted to, would you be sitting on your ass playing video games? If you would... then you should really spend some time rethinking your priorities. I don't blame either Mark or Brett, they are living the ultimate game, being rich and famous.

[IaMs12]

Yes playing the game would be wise for him to get into the head of Max Payne... Its like the Dark Knight movie, Heath Ledger visited Assylums so he could get into his character and he didnt a Freaking awesome job at it... thats one reason why they think he died too

[Wii60Fan]

He's never heard of the OFF switch.

[BWS1982]

people are assuming he won't play the game means he has no clue how the game looks/feels/sounds/plays...?

Who's to say he hasn't already watched someone working on the film play through the two games, he seemed to have somewhat of an understanding on the monologues from Max Payne in the trailer. How does "I won't play the game" equate to "I won't watch the game played or research my role"? Now this assumption "confounds" me.

[Omegasyde]

If I read in between the lines....Marky Mark has crappy hand to eye coordination thus making him also weak at driving a car with a manual transmission.

addictive personality = hollywood lingo for "too busy doing drugs"

[Nostradavis]

I don't see the drug connection, but that's just me. Maybe I am not "Hollywood" enough.

[psycho360]

I doubt he does drugs, in 90s he was singing pro health and anti d.r.u.g.g.i.e songs, like good vibrations, gonna have a good time etc.

[Onrefni]

I'm not getting any good vibrations from this story.

[Nostradavis]

Nice play on words. Bubble for you.

[deeznuts]

Maybe you need new batteries then? J/k ;)

I dont' see a problem. You don't see people who play serial killers go out there and murk people just to get into character.

[Fishy Fingers]

Makes no difference as far as I can see, the star of the movie isn't the writter.

[Nostradavis]

What the hell are you talking about? It's a slap in the face to any actor who takes his role seriously, AND it's a slap in the face to the gaming industry.

Think about it for a moment....

Every good actor tries to do everything they can to learn about the role they are about to play. They meet the person if they can, meet their friends, their family, etc. They visit mental hospitals if they are going to play a crazy person, they gain weight if they are going to play a fat person.

Marky Mark Wahlberg saying this, is essentially saying "You know what...I don't take this video game stuff seriously. I am not going to do my research on the character, I am just going to cash my paycheck and do what I want."

[Fishy Fingers]

Yes thank you for the correct acting protocol. But I think your being slightly dramatic, it's not like he isn't going to take an interest in the character, of course he will take the time to speak to the creator, the fans etc and learn who Max Payne is, what his motivation is, his emotions etc

There are other ways to research on the character than just play the game.

I hear Van Damme took time to play street fighter before he made the movie, what exactly happened there then? Oh, the direction was rubbish, something actor have very little control over. 9 time out of 10 an actor is simply a tool, they do what they're told, their direction written, their lines written.

I'm a huge gamer and movie fan and frankly as long as the movie turns out good I couldnt give a fook what research is done. Basically your all jumping to conclusions about the films quality, little early days for that.

[Ghoul]

@nostra

"You know what...I don't take this video game stuff seriously. I am not going to do my research on the character, I am just going to cash my paycheck and do what I want."

nice stereotyping you got going on there mate. not cool.

actually you learn more about the character max payne from scripts and talking to remedy itself, then playing the game. the "only" necessary parts for a actor are the graphic novel parts inside max payne (cut scenes) nad i bet he has seen those often enough.

i guess he knows how to act and you dont need to educate us how an actor does his research couse everyone does it different. What ive seen sofar from the trailer and such im totally impressed and cant wait to see it in action.

mark whalberg is a great action actor and i bet he can bring enough drama for the rest to the table.

@fishy

well said about the director actor relation, its true to the bone there are very very few actors that have the privilege to push the character they are plaing into a certain direction, johnny depp for example. most of them do as the director orders.

[Yi-Long]

... 'ow if I start playing I wont be able to stop, and I wont get anything else done'. WTF dude, you're mature man. Grow some self-control.

Friends of mine also state this same lame excuse to explain why they dont want to buy a console YET. Geez(!)

[Fishy Fingers]

Perhaps he just doesnt like computer games? He's not going to come out and directly say that when the movies main demographic are gamers.

[C_SoL]

u go & do heroin times and tell me if u have self-control.

[Ghoul]

jeez

not everyone wants to spend theyre spare time playing videogames, not because they dont like it but some do realise they would spend to much time on games if they would own them, i got a couple of mates with the same problem.

the gaming community is getting weirder everyday

so you are now bound to play videogames in order to play a character in a movie flick wich is based on a video game ?
does the actor have to take heroin if he play an addict ?
does he have to be at least 6 months homeless to play a bumm ?

[Yi-Long]

... I didnt say Mark or ANYONE else SHOULD play videogames.

I just think the EXCUSE they use is LAME. And not just when Mark says it, but also friends at school claiming they cant own a 360 or PS3 cause they would play 'too much'.
You're a grown up and you yourself can play for 1 hour, or 10 hours. It's your own decision.

Also, comparing a videogame addiction to alcohol or drugs addiction is pretty dumb.

[psycho360]

WEll that's simply not an excuse. If i get paid million $ to do some work i've been doing most of my life but that would mean spending less time playing video games then hell with video games. He's an actor who, probably loves doing movies and gets paid handsomly so why would he get addicted to video games ? I mean i gave up my BF:V addiction when i got a new GF and was spending more time with her than playing video games which i'd been doing ever since i was a kid.

BTW not playing game has nothing to do with video game movie failing cuz he can always watch videos of the game to see how the character is like. I'm sure people playing psychotic murderers in movies like SAW etc aren't going around chopping people in real life to get into the act.

[Ghoul]

"Also, comparing a videogame addiction to alcohol or drugs addiction is pretty dumb."

well this time your totally wrong.

videogame addiction is real and many suffer from it.

back on topic, i still find it very normal if some like videogames but dont want to own a console because they know they would spend to much time with it. Your acting a bit intolerant if you blame them to be liars.

[Baka-akaB]

You're the weird guys actually .... it's not like he owes anyone an explanation and SHOULD play videogames ...

[wardrox]

You don't think an actor should know his character? Would you think it fine if a film based on a book had the lead roll played by somebody who had never read it?

[BWS1982]

you're stating playing the game is knowing the character, that's not the only way though, he could watch a recording of the games being played through from start to finish, he could speak with Remedy like someone said, he could talk with the writers, sift through all the graphic novel images, listen to the monologues...etc...a game isn't the same as a book, a game can be played or watched or even listened to, a book can simply be read. I get what you're trying to say but some people here seem to be offended almost because Mark doesn't share their hobby, so what? Many girls don't, do you avoid the fairer sex because of that? He's got enough interest to want to do the saga justice, lets see how the movie turns out before we rate it, shall we?

[Ludwig]

Personaly, I can identify with that situation.

I really hate "playing just a little bit." .. to enjoy playing .. you must be able to play a couple of good long hours in order to get "good" at the game and enjoy it.

Even if you have a little time to play, it's really frustrating doing so in small bits.

[xhi4]

who makes Entourage.

he is KING! lol

[Big Jim]

Of course he doesn't play videogames, hes rich and famous. He spends his time partying and banging hot chicks. What does he need video games for?

[psycho360]

That's the point, why would he get addicted to video games when he has hands full already with kids/movies/money etc? He just doesnt like video games period.

[kai_h]

Apparently it seems that he's seen the game being played... but who knows. And if he has, at least it's better than just jumping in the movie without knowing anything.

http://link.brightcove.com/...

[Bomb Shop]

Mark is a queer. I hope he gets cancer

[Morgue]

Anyone seen Fear with Markie Mark and Reese Witherspoon? It's actually pretty good, Markie plays an obsessive boyfriend. Personally. I thought Anthony Bourdain should have played Max Payne.

[poopface1]

your going to miss the most important line from the game that has to be in the movie.

"the security pannel let out a mocking cakle."

[project76dodo]

he should at least know the character

what a douche

[BWS1982]

again, is playing the game the only way to know Max? That's the fun part, but that's not the only way, if he watches someone play through it for many hours the only difference from him and the guy who played through it is one had his hands on the keys/mouse and had control over where he moved Max....they both saw the same story and could understand the same emotions.

[DetroitSportsFan]

This would be like Heath Ledger never reading a Batman comic or watching a Batman movie before playing the Joker.

Heath did his homework and did a great job, will Marky Mark?

[theusedfake]

you wouldn't want videogames getting
in the way of acting in blockbuster films
like the happening or planet of the apes...

would you?

[tatotiburon]

so what?? he don't need to be master player in Max Payne 1 & 2, he is an actor, no a gamer, actors made movies gamers play games, nothing more and don't put both together in the same sentence, it's like the actor behind Snake voice trying to write a movie, EPIC FAIL. Mark is a good actor, let see how he plays Max Payne in the movie....Heath Ledger made the best Joker ever, he was a Batman Fan?? NO!, he saw every tv show, every movie and every cartoon show? NO! he read every single comic book? NO! and somebody it's absolutely sure that he even liked Batman??

[masterprince101]

though heath wasn;t a huge batman fan he made himself aware of the character. and before even beggining to get on set he placed himself in a room for a month with no outside contact reading key joker comics in order to get himself into character, making sure the voice, posture, and mannerisms of the joker were perfect.

you saw his performance right?
so yeah it is that important to make sure you review the character

[tatotiburon]

First for all, Joker is a harder character than Max Payne, there is to many versions of the joker to study, so Heath had a lot of material to create his perfomnace...Max Payne it's just two games, a simple cop that his wife and little baby were murder and now he is looking for revenge, before he was a nice cop and now he is Jhon Maclaine (Die Hard), and how anyone can be sure that Mark doesn't review the character before?, he doesn't need to play the game, he can see the cutscenes in youtube from the two games...so?

[masterprince101]

if you think seeing cutscenes of a character doing bullet time dodges and snippets form the game that look best in a youtube montage are great ways of seeing the character max payne then you rin the marky mark school of acting.

but i think he needs to see the dream sequences, the scenes with "the flesh of fallen angels" valkryie druggies, the scenes between mona and max. if you say he needs to watch an entire run of the cinema videos ill agree with you but to say he should watch videos on youtube is hilarious. watching max payne videos of bullet time isn't the same as watching max and th eway he interacts with alfred woden and mona sax

[tatotiburon]

Cutscenes, not gameplay, you can see the comic style cutscenes of the two games of youtube, or maybe the dev of max payne send him a dvd with all the storyline, cutscenes, etc. in the other side, the drugs dramas, bullet time and that great moments of the game is more like a challenge to the director to recreate them perfeclty in the movie.

The director, he must did play both games.

[masterprince101]

I'm not ashamed or afraid to say that any actor who does not read the source material of a character he is to portray is domed for failure. Set your bars very low people.

and im just not talking about great actors im talking about any actor. think about it your going to portray a character which has media already on it that shows his mannerisms and way of speech and other things and your not gonna look at it at all and just try to wing it. hmmmmm... taking your own interpretation ay marky mark. i really hope that his movie execs railed him for making that statement because in the vedo-game comic movie world the fans can float or sink a movie based on how well the people in it will retain the initial value of the product....LOL the lead actor won't(repeat) wont't, not can't or unable to, but won't play the game on which the character was concieved

my verdict: max payne the movie.....doomed for failure

[Baka-akaB]

But where do you get to decide he didnt get or read material ? Playing the game wich is a shooter got nothing to do with this .

For all you know you're talking BS and he got source material from scripts , tapes or some video compil of the game's scenes .

His honesty wont harm the movie one bit , especially with so many actors or directors claiming to be fans of an anime/comics/tv serie/book , only to do whatever they want without respect for the material .

He doesnt want ot play the game big deal , get over it , he played far more complicated roles than a video game character wich was rip off of noir and action cop movies .

[Gerard Way]

Marky mark's acting career has hit its biggest low ever with The Happening. If you haven't seen it yet, don't. I don't think ANYTHING can save him from that, not even Max Payne.

[Wii60Fan]

movie like out of the theaters in less than a week?

[specialguest]

-

[mistertwoturbo]

This seems a little bit too overblown here.

Although one character that definitely needs to be researched to get "in character" would have to go to Solid Snake. Whoever plays that role definitely has to play the games. Seeing as how the games play out like a movie anyway.

[Mode2]

To tell you the truth, I completely loved the Hitman movie. It was super-entertaining and, hands-down, one of the best video game movies. What was even better about it, however, was the actor that they chose to play Agent 47. Timothy Olyphant also mentioned that he didn't play any of the Hitman games and, yet, he gave one of the most worthy performances in any video game movie.

[Timesplitter14]

he's just lazy