Mark Wahlberg is easily one of the most commended and respected celebrities in the entertainment industry, with his star-studded leading career varying across multiple genres including comedy, drama, and action. Throughout his decades-long career, he has also worked with some of the most celebrated celebrities of all time, including even the legendary Jack Nicholson.
This pair worked together on the massively acclaimed masterpiece from 2006, The Departed. But as happy as Marky Mark was to be able to work with him, he seemingly went a bit too far in some scenes with the legend while trying to put his improvisational skills to work. However, this, unfortunately, didn’t end up in his favor as he faced immediate karma from the actor and filmmaker.
The Time Mark Wahlberg’s Improvisational Skills Almost Landed Him in Trouble
Pretty much every single role that Mark Wahlberg has taken on to date—irrespective of the genre it ranges in—has been so accurate and admirable that it’s hard to pick any flaws. This was thanks to not only his immaculate acting chops but also his outstanding improvisational skills that mostly seemed to work perfectly in bringing along the results he wanted.
However, these very skills posed a problem while he was working as Sergeant Dignam alongside Jack Nicholson‘s Frank Costello in their $291 million masterpiece together from 2006.
As it turns out, the Arthur the King star’s improvisational skills weren’t quite needed as much here as he used them, and this almost got him on the bad side of both Nicholson and the director.
During a recent interview with Jake’s Takes, Wahlberg confessed the same while sharing his experience of working with the legend, saying:
I was improvising throughout the movie and my character, obviously, didn’t have nice things to say to anybody. So, I said some unpleasantries to Jack and he gave me a look that nobody else gave me.
Needless to say, karma immediately hit him in the face with the stern look that The Shining actor gave him to have him stop improvising since his character already didn’t have the nicest of personalities of them all. But even then, The Family Plan star failed to register the seriousness of this look to its full extent and ended up continuing his improvising gig for a while longer.
This, inevitably, nearly landed him in serious trouble, as the issue at hand bothered filmmaker Martin Scorsese as well, and Wahlberg was soon asked to say just what he was meant to say and nothing else. As he continued to share:
And, of course, Marty, you know, I did one more, and then they both had a little chat and then they said, ‘Make sure that that’s the end of that.’
Yet, even then, this critical incident didn’t have the Shooter actor looking at Nicholson in a light any different than the stunned one that he always had while addressing the 87-year-old actor cum director. This is because, even after all this time and that experience, Wahlberg still won’t stop gushing in praise for Nicholson.
Nonetheless, Mark Wahlberg Considers Himself “Lucky” to Know Jack Nicholson
Continuing in the interview, the 53-year-old actor went on to share how “lucky” he feels to have known someone like Nicholson all the while admitting how he still considers him one of the greatest stars of all time. Wahlberg said:
I’m lucky enough to know Jack offset for many, many years. The place [where] I think we were both most comfortable was on the golf course, so I got to spend a lot of quality time with him. He’s one of the GOATs.
Well, it seems like even though karma hit Mark Wahlberg immediately with the terrifying look Jack Nicholson gave him over his improvisational skills coupled with the strict warning from Martin Scorsese, the actor couldn’t be happier to have been able to work with the multiple time Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Grammy winner.
You can watch The Departed on Netflix.
