Mark Wahlberg was ‘terrified’ of making Boogie Nights

23 August 2024

Mark Wahlberg was initially “terrified” of starring in ‘Boogie Nights’.

Mark Wahlberg starred in the 1997 period drama

The 53-year-old actor played adult film star Dirk Diggler in 1997 period drama, but Mark was initially hesitant about making the film because he wanted to distance himself from his Calvin Klein modelling career.

The Hollywood star told Variety: “I was terrified because it was like, the pitch was tough.

“It’s like Ted, a guy and a teddy bear smoking weed. That doesn’t sound very appealing, right? Or a porn star. I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t want to do that.’ I had just come from Calvin Klein and all that stuff. I was trying to get away from all that.

“‘Showgirls’ had just come out. That movie was not successful. I had never met [director Paul Thomas Anderson].

“I didn’t see ‘Hard Eight’, but everybody was telling me how amazing it was, so I read 25 or 30 pages of it, put it down, waited till I met with him. As soon as I met with him, it was like, ‘Okay, I get it.’ And then I finished the script, I was cast in the part. We were both 25 at the time. It was wild.”

The movie proved to be a turning point in Mark’s career.

But the actor acknowledges that it wouldn’t be given the green light by a Hollywood film studio in 2024.

Mark – who first found fame in the 90s as part of the hip-hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch – explained: “That movie ain’t getting made today. Not at a studio.”