Interview with Mark

CS: How are things going with M. Night Shyamalan’s next movie "The Happening?"Wahlberg:

It's happening. It's happening. No, I love working with Night [Shyamalan], I've never seen a filmmaker work so smoothly. And so prepared. First day, we had a scene that was probably five pages long, and I figured, well we'll probably do this for a good three or four days, and we were done by lunch. And I was like whoa. Okay. So I'm very glad that I never tried directing myself until I worked with Night. I think of all the guys that I've worked with, I think his is a style that I would really try to emulate.

CS: Are you allowed to talk about that movie at all?

Wahlberg: I'll just tell you the ending. (laughs) No, I play a science teacher, definitely a part that people will be extremely surprised that I decided to play. He's constantly reminding me of how I need to walk. No, that looks too tough, that looks too angry. You're a science teacher, you know. But I love it. It's really about the characters and their relationships, and there's this crazy thing that's happening. So I'm thrilled, we only have a week left. Probably one of the biggest movies I've been a part of, yet we're only shooting forty-four days. And the longest day has been a twelve-hour day, and the short days have been like eight, nine hours. And he gave away yesterday, for instance, that every Friday he gives away a trip for seven days in the Greek islands, to a crew member, a guy I think from the audio department won, and the week before somebody got a seven day trip somewhere else in the Caribbean, I'm like what's going on, man? It's a special experience. And I do whatever he wants me to do. Hopefully the end result will be satisfying. He's thrilled, I have a very good feeling about it.

CS: Did you go back to school to study how to be a teacher?

Wahlberg: Science was the only subject that I didn't take while taking my GED exam, so first thing I did when I got to Philly was I went to the Ben Franklin Institute, trying to do as much as possible. But there's very little stuff in the class. The class and stuff is really about showing his relationship and his connection to students. He's not the most adult teacher. His wife wants him to be more adult, she wants to be more like a kid, and he connects with his kids and he's great with his kids. It was a fun experience.

from http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=37860.