Transformers: Age of Extinction star Mark Wahlberg had some choice words to say about Computer Generated Imagery just a year prior to starring in the commercially successful film, directed by Michael Bay. The Transformers franchise has faced some criticism for its use of CGI, which usually resulted in CGI characters looking indistinguishable from one another.
When Mark Wahlberg was asked why his film 2 Guns stood apart from other films at the box office, the actor attributed it to the CGI trend that was taking over Hollywood at the time. He allegedly ‘ranted’ about CGI and how it had taken over Hollywood in recent years.
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What led Mark Wahlberg to star in Transformers: Age of Extinction
Mark Wahlberg was cast in Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2012. The film served as a soft reboot of the franchise, taking the film series into a new direction. Given that Wahlberg’s CGI criticism came out in 2013, it goes without saying that he did not have much say in his involvement with the project after the comment. In the 2013 interview with Yahoo Movies, he said:
“You know, there’s so many effects-driven movies. What people have a tendency to forget, because you look at a lot of the trailers and the summer movies that came out… they all look very similar. Certainly all the end of the world movies.”
When Wahlberg’s 2 Guns hit theatres, starring Denzel Washington among other talent, the year’s summer releases were filled to the brim with films employing CGI. With big-budget films like Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, Star Trek: Into the Darkness, The Wolverine, and Pacific Rim coming out the same year, it seemed that Wahlberg’s criticisms were not unfounded, in that big-budget films were relying more on CGI to get people to go to theatres.
Given that by the time Wahlberg made a comment, he had been signed on the film for at least 6 months. It does not seem odd in hindsight that he starred in a film like Age of Extinction a mere year after being fed up with CGI films taking over Hollywood.
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Age of Extinction wasn’t the only film he starred in.
Despite his criticism of the CGI takeover of Hollywood, Wahlberg went on to star in yet another Transformers movie (2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight, directed by Michael Bay). So while he was not happy with the amount of CGI that was in films then, he recognized the shifting trend in the industry and went with what suited his career at the time. A lot of actors have come out in criticism about the excessive use of CGI in films. However, that does not stop them from doing such films as it generates the critical or commercial acclaim that is viable for their careers.
Not only Mark Wahlberg but actors such as Sir Ian Mackallen have also criticized the use of CGI, saying that he was ‘miserable’ while on the set of The Hobbit, reprising his role from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy as Gandalf. However, that did not stop him from starring in multiple X-Men films, all of which heavily rely on CGI, while also continuing his work in the Hobbit Trilogy of films, directed by Sir Peter Jackson.
Despite all the criticisms that artists and actors have with regard to the use of CGI, they have little say when it comes to the projects that they are offered. At the end of the day, they must recognize trends in their industry and leverage them for their best interests, whether they like it or not.
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