Mark Wahlberg could have played the lead role in an absolute sci-fi cult film. But the star of Uncharted and Arthur the Great had a demand that the director couldn’t accept
Mark Wahlberg is about to embark on a new cinematic adventure in Arthur the Great. He is a seasoned blockbuster star who can also carry films successfully on his own. If we travel back 20 years, things look a little different. Back then, the ex-rapper was just on his way to the top of the film business. Perhaps that’s why he insisted on his creative idea for the lead role in the sci-fi cutie film Donnie Darko. In any case, director Richard Kelly couldn’t do anything with it
This is why Mark Wahlberg turned down the cult sci-fi film Donnie Darko
The lead role of 17-year-old Donnie Darko, who is plagued by visions of the end of the world, ended up being played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Before that, however, several better-known stars were in discussion. The producers wanted Vince Vaughn, for example, as Richard Kelly confirmed in an interview (via Scotts ). He turned it down because he felt too old for the role. But Mark Wahlberg, who is a year younger, had a different reason. Kelly explained it like this:
Mark Wahlberg was in talks to play Donnie. He liked the script and the role. The big problem was that Mark wanted to play Donnie with a lisp.
The director went on to reveal:
‘Why? I don’t know exactly. But he insisted pretty strongly, and that ultimately prevented the deal
Why the reason is stupid and Wahlberg still made the right decision
(Donnie Darko)
Unfortunately, we don’t have Mark Wahlberg’s explanation for his desire to play Donnie with a speech impediment. From the outside, it seems stupid, to say the least, to turn down a role because you want to graft a quality onto it that will make you stand out as an actor.
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But it fits Wahlberg’s career phase at the time. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the future action star was more experimental in his choice of roles than he is today. He wanted to prove himself as an actor and shot with directors such as Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights), David O. Russell (Three Kings) and James Gray (The Yards).
For Donnie Darko, his refusal was a blessing. Instead of casting an almost 30-year-old in the role of a schoolboy, the then 20-year-old Jake Gyllenhaal got the job. Donnie Darko sank at the box office, but went on to become a cult film. For Gyllenhaal, it was an important step towards his Hollywood breakthrough, which came a year later with Moonlight Mile. Mark Wahlberg, on the other hand, took a while to discover his niche in Hollywood. And it has little to do with independent brain twisters.
