Mark Wahlberg to play Max Payne

by Justin McElroy { Nov 9th 2007 at 9:30AM }

We know it's been a while since you've heard anything about the Max Payne series of games, and don't worry: You won't be breaking your streak today. What you are going to hear about is an upcoming Max Payne film starring ... wait for it ... Mark Wahlberg. Yes, the former Funky Bunch CEO is reportedly going to be grimacing his way through an adventure based on the noir series. John Moore of Flight of the Phoenix and Behind Enemy Lines fame will direct.

What's just as (if not more) exciting to us it that we doubt Rockstar will miss the opportunity to cash in on the film with a new Max Payne, and, frankly, he's been gone too long.

Tags: mark-wahlberg, max-payne, maxpayne, rockstar

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

rivaldi22 @ Nov 9th 2007 9:43AM

Ain't hatin' it!

tucker @ Nov 9th 2007 3:41PM

clive owen would b better tbh. hated sin city, but he was still good in it :P

JonFitt @ Nov 9th 2007 9:48AM

Hmm. It had a good story for a game, but I'm not sure it works when taken out of the game. Without the long stretches of slo-mo bullet dodging (Do you really want 90 minutes of bullet time? 'The One' says hello) I think it'll come out thin and derivative.

rivaldi22 @ Nov 9th 2007 10:13AM

As the game was inspired by movies like Hard Boiled, I think it can make a decent translation to a movie of that style.

Though it probably won't, and will be simply disappointing.

Phranctoast @ Nov 9th 2007 9:50AM

As long as Uwe Boll isnt touching it.......

Freeze @ Nov 9th 2007 9:52AM

Wrong choice for Max Payne that talks like a girly-man. That's 2 strikes against choosing an actor to portray a videogame character. Timothy O is still the wrong choice to play Agent 47.
I think the only good choice an actor portraying a videogame character is Takeshi Kaneshiro reprising his role in the upcoming movie Onimusha as Samanosuke directed by Christophe Gans. I applaude that hands-down.

Geist @ Nov 9th 2007 9:54AM

I still don't understand why they didn't cast the voice actor as 47. I mean, they modelled the character after him, he obviously has the right voice...arr.

megaStryke @ Nov 9th 2007 10:20AM

Jason Statham should have been cast in BOTH these roles.

arrrgh @ Nov 9th 2007 11:18AM

+1 on statham

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 9th 2007 12:58PM

Talks like a girly man? Have you seen the departed?

Geist @ Nov 9th 2007 9:53AM

Unless he can pull off 2 hours of a constant constipated expression across his face, I won't see Max Payne in him.

Also, bring on the super-noir. Because nothing pleases my soul better than the dark musings of a man who's lost all within him, enough for a black mass of hatred, black as the darkest night in hell, to form, shrieking like a creature from Hades. And such.

comtar @ Nov 9th 2007 10:00AM

I've been saying the same thing about 47 for the last 6 months.

arrrgh @ Nov 9th 2007 11:18AM

see mega's comment above

Martin @ Nov 9th 2007 9:55AM

Justin, the 'wait for it' shtick doesn't really work when it's already revealed in the title.

I actually really like Mark Wahlberg. I'm not sure why, as his acting isn't anything to write home about.

JimJimBinks @ Nov 9th 2007 9:56AM

Instead of his wife and child, I'm going to watch the entire movie pretending he's avenging the Funky Bunch.

Cyro @ Nov 9th 2007 9:58AM

I think it should be uwe boll directing this!

Orangecoke @ Nov 9th 2007 10:17AM

"I actually really like Mark Wahlberg. I'm not sure why, as his acting isn't anything to write home about."

Yep, I find him a consistently entertaining actor to watch.

gonk @ Nov 9th 2007 10:25AM

i hope they make the movie as campy as the games, because it would be good then

Cellien @ Nov 9th 2007 10:28AM

I always thought Max Payne looked like Johnny Knoxville :D

arrrgh @ Nov 9th 2007 3:56PM

bruce fuckin willis die hard 1 era...dead on

capt_carl @ Nov 9th 2007 10:33AM

@Cellien: Yea, I didn't think of that either.

This hopefully could be promising. I loved every minute of Max Payne. The gritty film noir writing should be able to transition into the big screen well. It'll just suck not hearing Max's deep, gravely voice spitting out metaphor upon simile upon more metaphors.

SugarDaddy @ Nov 9th 2007 10:37AM

Oooh boy, a new max payne sounds excellent. As for this movie, I think wahlberg is too much of a pretty boy to play max.

timnc @ Nov 9th 2007 10:38AM

Mmmmmmmm I miss bullet time.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 9th 2007 10:44AM

1. I am fucking surprised that this movie is still going to be made. I loved Max Payne and I would love it if there was a decent movie based on it.

2. My man Marky Mark(he needs to make a hip-hop comeback now!!!!) is not a bad actor so I trust he can somehow pull it off.

3. If this movie is successful enough, maybe it would convince Rockstar to make Max Payne 3.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 9th 2007 10:45AM

And it needs to be a NOIR type film. I cannot express this enough.

Briz9 @ Nov 9th 2007 10:47AM

Rockstar? I thought the people who are making Alan Wake made the Max Payne games.

cybereality @ Nov 9th 2007 10:56AM

Remedy made Max Payne (and also Alan Wake). Rockstar is just the publisher.

cybereality @ Nov 9th 2007 10:55AM

At first I was hatin' on Wallberg, but he actually might be decent for the part. The only thing I have to say is that if they make a Half-Life movie, please, please get Adrien Brody to play Gordon.

Riptidez @ Nov 9th 2007 11:37AM

It really should be Peter Krause from 6 Feet Under playing Max Payne...they look identical! I've always thought that ever since I played the first game

Phillip @ Nov 9th 2007 11:41AM

At first I thought he was actually going to "play" Max Payne. I was thinking, "And why do I care?" :)

ginnal @ Nov 9th 2007 11:57AM

Those of you saying Wahlberg doesn't fit the role need to step outside.

"s a young teenager, Wahlberg participated in several violent acts for which he was charged, later claiming to have been in trouble 20-25 times with the Boston Police Department as a youth. At 15 he harassed a group of African American school children on a field trip by throwing rocks (causing injuries) and shouting epithets.[7] When he was sixteen (again using racist language), Wahlberg knocked one middle aged Vietnamese man unconscious with a wooden stick, and left another Vietnamese man permanently blinded in one eye.[8][9][4] Wahlberg has said that he has no recollection of the incident because he passed out just before the police caught him.[4] For these crimes, Wahlberg was charged for attempted murder, pled guilty to assault, and was sentenced to 2 years in jail at Boston's Deer Island House of Correction, of which he served 45 days.[8][10] In yet another incident when he was 21 Wahlberg fractured the jaw of a neighbor in an unprovoked attack."

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 9th 2007 1:03PM

AWESEOME!!!! So Marky Mark is a reformed racist.

Shockgamer @ Nov 9th 2007 2:02PM

And here I was about to say they could've chosen a worse person for the role...

343 Guilty Fart @ Nov 9th 2007 12:27PM

Oooh, I wonder if Drama and Turtle will be costarring?

Zach S @ Nov 9th 2007 1:07PM

I'm not surprised at all, the second game really solidified the whole idea that this game's story could make a really good movie. Interesting characters, situation.

I don't like Mark Wahlberg, because he generally annoys me, BUT I think he works for this character...

Neptune @ Nov 9th 2007 1:30PM

They should just hire the man himself: Sami Järvi/Sam Lake :P

Neptune @ Nov 9th 2007 1:41PM

Seriously though James McCaffrey (the voice of Max in both games) could have been a good choice.

James @ Nov 9th 2007 1:51PM

Clive Owen would have been my choice. He looks like him and could probably sound somewhat like him (Sin City).

zero @ Nov 9th 2007 3:09PM

Based on the style and content of the Max Payne games, Robert Rodriguez would have been a good choice in my book.

Dan @ Nov 9th 2007 3:59PM

Good choice I reckon, although I always hoped against hope that they'd make it animated in the sketch style of the storyboard cutscenes- bit like in Kill Bill.

badarsemother3k @ Nov 9th 2007 7:39PM

He may not be my first choice but he is a very good actor. I wish him and the crew luck because if the movie sucks, I will decapitate each and every one of them. I hope it revitalizes the series and opens up the story for another game.

Metacore @ Nov 9th 2007 9:13PM

Finally, a good actor and a good director, making a movie out of a good game. People, we just might have a good movie on our hands.

Also, no one dis Marky Mark. Just watch The Italian Job, The Departed and Shooter.

Mischa @ Nov 10th 2007 9:10AM

Okay, I loved Max Payne, and I think Mark Wahlberg is a pretty decent actor, especially for this kind of movie. However, doesn't this seem like some sort of media mad cow disease, franchises feeding off of themselves?? Max Payne was inspired by movies like Hard Boiled and Die Hard. Do we really need a movie based off of a video game, based off of movies??