He's No Big Dick

Mark Wahlberg wants to know what we did over Spring Break. Actually, he wants to know why we're interviewing him instead of "on Spring Break having fun, drinking beer," before realizing that Spring Break would most likely be over and asking the operator to open up the lines of our previously listen-only conference call so that we could tell him how we spent our vacations. His new movie, The Italian Job, comes out next month. Perhaps its most distinguishing feature is the fleet of tiny sports cars driven by its heroes. They can do anything -- navigate traffic jams, rocket through subway tunnels, outrun a helicopter, whatever you want! I went into this interview wanting to know about the little cars. "They're fun to drive, but horrible to be in the passenger seat," says Wahlberg. Then, in the more-than-you-wanted-to-know department, he adds: "I almost threw up when I was in the passenger seat with Charlize [Theron]. But they're very fun to drive." Wahlberg got his acting career off to a helluva start six years ago in Boogie Nights, and deserves now to be respected as a serious actor. Before that he was, of course, Marky Mark, model and rapper. He's been known to become angry when asked about those youthful indiscretions, and I was dreading the moment when an unsuspecting college reporter would broach the forbidden subject and upset the guy. The moment came, of course, but Wahlberg maintained composure. When asked whether he would ever return to the music world, he just replied curtly, "No. I miss the freedom of being in the music world, but I need the discipline that goes along with making films." In The Italian Job, Wahlberg got to work with some very high-profile, talented actors, among them Donald Sutherland and Edward Norton. He gushes about Sutherland, calling him "amazing... Donald Sutherland is one of my favorite actors of all time, and he was fantastic. He is also one of the most generous actors I've ever worked with." As for Norton, who plays the villain in the film, well: "I got to crack him in the head, which was very pleasurable"