STACK February 2017 Issue 148

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visit CINEMA FEATURE
HOMECOMING
MarkWahlberg is known for headlining thrilling Hollywood
blockbusters, but his latest project is as emotional an experience
for the star as it is action-packed. Words Jake Taylor
Mark Wahlberg’s recent collaborations
with director Peter Berg have tackled
some of the major events that have
shaped modern America – be it as a member
of the US Special Forces in Afghanistan
in 2013’s Lone Survivor or a rig engineer
during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2016’s
Deepwater Horizon. The pair’s latest project,
however, is one that holds special importance
for Wahlberg; the star plays Detective
Sergeant Tommy Saunders in Patriots Day,
based on the tragic terrorist attack that took
place in Wahlberg’s birthplace of Boston in
2013.
Despite his past cinematic successes,
taking part in Patriots Day posed a completely
new set of problems for Wahlberg.
“I knew it was going to be extremely
difficult,” the 45-year-old explains. “But in the
end I realised that they’re probably going to
make this movie anyway and that I should do
it because that way I could control the way
the story was told.
“I thought there was probably no one who
cared about what happened and wanted to
honour the victims and their families more
than I did. Even though there was a lot of
pressure, it’s the kind of situation where
you want to show how
proud you are of the
way people responded
to the tragedy and how
everyone united behind
each other.”
Thankfully for Wahlberg, he
could count on a stellar cast including John
Goodman, J. K. Simmons and Kevin Bacon,
as well as his past successes with Peter
Berg to provide the tribute he wanted to the
people of Boston.
“I knew that Peter was as committed to
that as any director could possibly be and
that also made me feel confident that we
could do justice to the people of Boston
and also to the victims of the attack, their
families, and everyone who was affected by
this event,” he agrees. “Just talking about
the movie is hard because it feels so close.”
Set on the day of the Boston Marathon
attack – in which Chechen brothers Tamerlan
and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev used
homemade explosive devices
to kill three and injure over
250 other crowd-members
watching the marathon’s
finale – Patriots Day
follows the immediate
aftermath of the
explosion and the
subsequent manhunt.
“I flew to Boston the
next day and after landing
at the airport and driving
into the city, everything felt
different,” Wahlberg recalls. “The
streets were virtually deserted and I don’t
think I’ve ever had a more eerie feeling than
I did on that day.”
This intense connection to the story has
made the filmWahlberg’s most emotional to
date, and he hopes the project is a success
not just for himself, but for all the “people
who are going to stand up to these kinds of
attacks in the same way that the people of
Boston faced up to the tragedy”.
“I felt a personal responsibility not only
to the people who went through this ordeal
but also to the entire Boston community,
which is very close-knit,” he concludes. “And
I wanted to still be able to show my face
in the city after making this movie, which
meant making sure that we told this
story with the right kind of respect and
sensitivity.”
Patriots Day is in cinemas from Feb 2
[We made
sure] we told
this story with
the right kind
of respect and
sensitivity
18 FEBRUARY 2017