LOS ANGELES, California - Mark Wahlberg was worried on how his hometown people might react when he signed to star in and produce a movie about the Boston Marathon bombing.
The Dorchester locality native was sure he had a thoughtful story to tell. But the 2013 misfortune, which killed three and injured 264 others civilian, was still raw when he joined a Boston Celtics game two years later at TD Garden.
Carrying The Grief Of the Living, Mark Wahlberg Courageously Portrayed The Act
When his face raced on the jumbotron, "people started going crazy," Wahlberg recalls. "They started chanting 'Boston Strong! Boston Strong!' "It was amazing," he says. "Seeing that obviously reaffirmed my instinct of just how important it was to tell this story. And that it was just as important for me to be the guy to do it."
Wahlberg and director Peter Berg will show Patriots Day on Wednesday 12/21 in Boston, New York, and Los Angeles, casting light on the marathon finish-line bombings by homegrown city, inhumane act of terrorist, brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Patriots Day emphases on the real-life brave man who appeared from the terrible events that run through the nation, from injured audiences such as wedding couple Jessica and Patrick Downes (played by Rachel Brosnahan and Christopher O'Shea) to the authorities who worked together during the 105-hour manhunt to arrest Dzhokhar (Tamerlan died after a shootout), together with FBI special agent Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon) and Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman).
Wahlberg, who describes Sgt. Tommy Saunders, a compound character based on three police officers, is quick with humble jokes in an discussion at the Four Seasons. He can mock the "lovely mane" of hair he's grown for the upcoming Transformers: The Last Knight movie ("I stare at women now and think, 'How do you do it?' ").
Berg, who has undertaken true-life bravery with Wahlberg in Navy SEAL drama Lone Survivor and oil-rig thriller Deepwater Horizon, says his star creator showed "a whole other gear" in his stomping grounds. Wahlberg used his local pull to dial up David Ortiz for a cameo honoring the Red Sox star's famed Fenway Park speech, where the hitter proclaimed, "This is our (expletive) city."
Ortiz's insubordinate words and Patriots Day carry meaning for the whole nation, Wahlberg says.
"This is not just about Boston, it's about all of us," he says. "Bad things will continue to happen, but good people will always come together and fight for what's right. And love will always win. I want everyone to hear that message."
In memory to those who lost their lives and to those who were traumatize with the inhumane act of terrorism, remaining family and friends are praying for peace and move on.
