Mark Wahlberg: Family Is His "Priority"

Mark Wahlberg and his fiance Rhea Durham were photographed at the Los Angeles premiere of Max Payne in Hollywood over the weekend. The couple welcomed their third child, Brendan Joseph, just three weeks ago. Max Payne is based on the hugely popular video game, and next year you can catch Mark in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones. Since he's been working so much on these various movies, Wahlberg hasn't been spending as much time at home with Rhea and their three children as he'd like. The following interview with Parade talks about how he'd like to change that.

On working on so many films recently: "I have been focusing on myself and my career for quite some time. But now my family is definitely going to become my priority. I can't be working at the pace that I have been for much longer. I want to be around to take my kids to school and pick them up and drag them to the golf course with me."

On his wedding plans to longtime love, Rhea: "Rhea and I are talking about getting married next August but no invitations have been sent yet."

On if it was tough to take on the role of Max Payne, whose life is virtually destroyed when his wife and baby are brutally murdered: "Putting myself in that headspace every day was not a fun place to be. I would film all week and the kids couldn't understand why, every time I came home on the weekend, I would just grab them and hold them so tight. I took the role because I had just played a science teacher in The Happening and an accountant in The Lovely Bones. I thought it was time to go back and do what I think best suits me, busting some heads and having some fun, kicking the bad guys' butts."

On if it seems like the movie makers put him in the middle of the action whenever possible: "Especially after Invincible, directors think I'm like the Bionic Man or something. I took my share of hard knocks but I was like, 'Hey, guys, I have three small children.' When I didn't have kids, I was a kamikaze, I didn't care. Now, I've given my motorcycle away. And you won't see me more jumping out of planes or off of buildings anymore. I've been very, very lucky because I've had a bunch of close calls."

On the PG-13 rating for Max Payne: "There's heavy gun play and major explosions but not a lot of blood, and we really were careful of the language. There were some takes where I admit I let loose a few bad words but you won't see them. Actually, I'm glad we didn't drop the 'F-bomb' in every scene. Too many four-letter words can be distracting which is not to say that in real life I don't use them more than I probably should."

On if he is into video games: "It's too hard. Games have changed so much since I was kid. Before, all you had to do was navigate Pac-Man through the maze and try to eat up all the dots. Now you have, like, 15 buttons on each remote."

On if he plays video games with his kids: "Me and my daughter are playing Wii tennis and when she starts swinging, she hits me with the remote control. But it doesn't get her as excited as when I used to run around and pretend to be Shrek. Actually, she made me do a bunch of characters in the movie. I studied the video so I know the lines."

On when he first started acting: "Since I was seven or eight, I was acting but I didn't know it. I was always trying to put on some sort of performance. I was always trying to be cool. I was always trying to be the one who would do the dares to impress the older guys. I never realized I'd put it to use in Hollywood."

Source: Parade

Photo: Flynet