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Max Payne in our magazines

THE MOVIE: Max Payne

THE STARS:
Mark Wahlberg • Mila Kunis • Beau Bridges • Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges
DIRECTOR: John Moore

THE CONCEPT:
Based on the popular videogame, Max Payne (Wahlberg) is a maverick cop determined to track down those responsible for the murders of his family. Assisted by Mona Sax (Kunis), a Russian mobster and assassin who wants revenge for the murder of her sister, Max’s obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmare journey into the dark underworld where he must battle enemies beyond the natural world and face unthinkable betrayal.

U.S. RELEASE: October 17 2008, Nationwide • Rated: R

THE COMMENTS:

MARK WAHLBERG:
“I just played a science teacher in The Happening, I played an accountant in The Lovely Bones, and it was time to go back and do what I think best suits me, busting some heads and having some fun and kicking ass on the bad guys.”

CHRIS ‘LUDACRIS’ BRIDGES (Jim Bravura):
“What attracted me to the project was being able to point a gun at Mark Wahlberg and get away with it, and live to tell about it today. That’s definitely why I signed on to do this movie, just to point a gun at this man. I’m just messing with him. Honestly, I try to pick diverse roles and things I haven’t done before. This is my first time getting a little piece of the action and playing on the [good] side of the law. I love surprising myself and everyone else that watches. Jim Bravura, Internal Affairs, was actually written for a 60-year-old white man. I went to audition for it, and I got the part.”

MILA KUNIS:
“I enjoyed training with the guns a lot. John (Moore) for some reason made me learn how to take a [gun] apart and put it back together blindfolded. I now know how to do that in case anyone wants it. I liked shooting the gun a lot more than I thought I would. The clothes (I wear in the movie) suck. It was awful. Mark was bundled up in jackets, turtlenecks and wet suits and I was in a leather bustier, black pants and 5 inch heels.”

WAHLBERG on doing the Max Payne signature moves:
“The idea was fun but I’m not as young as I used to be. It wasn’t like we had a gigantic budget so we were on a green screen with wires and everything. We basically shot all the action on film. But being able to do those kinds of things, especially in the third act where he really goes crazy, it’s what every kid dreams about doing.”

BEAU BRIDGES (B.B. Hensley):
“I’d never heard of the game, Max Payne, but I have five kids, and when I told them I was going to be in Max Payne, they said, ‘Oh man!’ so I knew it was a game that had a big following. That was exciting. I read the script and I could tell by the descriptions that it was going to have a real high sense of style, and John Moore really brought that. I think it’s a real strong story, this guy who’s going off to find the killer of his wife and child. That’s something different from a lot of game movies that come out, so I’m glad to be a part of it.”

WAHLBERG:
“It wasn’t really brought to my attention how many movies had actually been adapted from games. When I read the script, a bit of a red flag popped up only because I grew up playing Atari, Pacman and Asteroids and there’s not much of a story there. But seeing this game, and realizing how elaborate the story is and how cinematic it is, [I realized] how much games have changed. I don’t care where the stories come from as long as they’re interesting and there’s fresh ways to tell them. Knowing how important this game is for a lot of die hard game fans, we obviously wanted to satisfy them and then hopefully introduce a bunch of other people through the movie to the game.”

KUNIS:
“I didn’t need to out-mucho [the other actors]. I’m so not a tough person, but from That 70s Show I’m used to being around so many boys all the time. I’m used to being more funny versus trying to kick ass and pretend like I’m tough and I know what I’m doing. I’ve never had to do that in my life. This was strange and unknown territory for me, but I liked it because it was such a challenge.”

WAHLBERG:
“The biggest challenge for me was going to that emotional place and having to imagine something horrible happening to my family. And the biggest physical challenge was keeping up the mystery and the façade that I’m actually tough and cool and that I can go and do all this action stuff and it doesn’t hurt and I’m not scared, because I’m not the thrill seeker that I used to be. I tell them to wrap me up in cellophane so nothing happens, because I want to be able to play with my kids. I’ve been very lucky; I’ve had a lot of close calls. But with a movie like this you want to get in there and make it as realistic as possible, but with anything too dangerous I’ve got a few guys that look exactly like me. Even when I’m driving down the street, if I see somebody who looks like me, I ask them if they’re willing to jump out of window or get hit by a car?”

Written by Judy Sloane. Back to top

Visit the official Max Payne site
Images above © Twentieth Century Fox
Feature © 2008 Visual Imagination.
Not for reproduction.

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