03-28
The Boston Globe mentions Mark's foundation contributed some money to help the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute keep running until the summer.

03-26
From Sylvie at Wahlberg's Flavor, Mark and his bro Donnie on VH1's Sibling Smackdown Monday the 29th. Check your local TV Guide for times and channel.

The Hollywood Reporter had a small blurb about teh Juvies screening in LA:
Law and order: It's no secret that Mark Wahlberg had more than a few run-ins with Massachusetts authorities during his bad-boy days as a teenager. But what might come as a surprise to some is that he still is involved in the juvenile justice cause, just from a different side of the fence. The actor, who spent time behind bars for an assault conviction at age 16, turned out Tuesday for the Los Angeles gala screening of "Juvies," Leslie Neale's documentary about kids behind bars. Wahlberg executive produced the film and narrates the 66-minute story, which also features poetry read by Mos Def. "It's something that has affected me personally, and it's a huge, huge issue that hasn't gotten the attention it deserves," Wahlberg said following the film's screening, held at the Aratani/Japan American Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. "So we're just trying to shine a light on it and get as many people involved as possible to try and make some changes. The laws are so harsh, and these kids are being sent to adult prisons and they are not being educated or rehabilitated." The tough lives that some of these teens face reminds Wahlberg of his own back story, but he's not one to dwell. "It takes me back, definitely," he said. "But it also makes me push forward and do as much as I can to change things for the future."

The Boston Globe commented on Mark's appearance on Tavis and the comments by Mark he was in Toronto during 9/11 and how he almost might have been a victim. It had been reported in the Boston Herald days after the tragedy but E-Factor had said the reports were false at the time.  Crazy times.

PR via Yahoo about Mark beging one of the many celebs visiting the new Tattoo company in the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.

03-19
Mark had a busy week doing some Juvies stuff in LA. On Tuesday, it was announced Juvies would be screening in LA (in hindsight it was posted elsewhere 2 weeks before - don't you love MW's managers always keeping us on top of things) . There was a short bit interview with Mark on Extra Wednesday. Pics at Film Magic and Wireimage.

From a bit of searching, I found he had been on PBS' Tavis Smiley show this past Monday. Thankfully Tavis has a transcript and audio (Real Player) for people to listen to. I take it nobody knew about it as I don't see it posted elsewhere. It's a really great interview too. I'm disappointed we had to find out after the fact. (again)

In other news, Jonathan Demme had some rather biting comments on Mark in The Truth about Charlie in the Houston Chronicle: "I did The Truth About Charlie because I thought a remake of Charade starring Thandie Newton and Will Smith would be great," he said. When Smith became unavailable, Universal Studios rushed Demme to make the movie with Mark Wahlberg because it feared a strike would halt production.

"I met him and thought he was very cute, and I wanted to make the movie, so I did," said Demme dryly. "Mark's gifts didn't lend themselves to the part the way Will Smith's would have."

In somewhat related news Howard Stern was fined by the FCC apparently for explaining what a blumpkin is. If you recall, Howard had asked Mark last summer if he had ever had that particular act done to him. Funny thing is they fined Stern for the next day's show  when he explained it pretty clinically and not the one Mark was on as Howard went on and on about blumpkins in less clinical terms before Mark went on. Odd eh?

Oh and in totally unrelated news. Trainspotting's Special Edition is coming to the US - with all the same goodies as the Region 2 one (but with the crappy US cover) June 1st. And Ewan's Young Adam comes out as a NC-17 here. Had a laugh at the quote from Sony Classic's president about Ewan: "... there will be people in the public in the land of right wing Jesus movies who will shun this picture and refrain from from letting it be advertised in the media that they control -- we do have a Luke Skywalker in the movie with his Light Saber exposed, the talent in the film would allows us to take it wider, were it not for the 'NC-17'"

03-13
USA Today had a profile on Juvies and a bunch of comments from Mark.

De Palma a la mode reports some tax law changes in the UK may threaten financing of The Black Dahlia.

More from USA Today. The Entourage will start airing in July!

'Entourage' skewers celeb hangers-on

With Sex and the City gone and Curb Your Enthusiasm wrapping up Sunday (10 p.m. ET/PT), there's a comedy void at HBO. But it won't last long.

July brings The Entourage, an eight-episode series that marks the first producing effort by Mark Wahlberg (Boogie Nights, The Italian Job), who appears briefly as himself in the pilot episode. The half-hour sitcom is about a big-time movie star and his posse of friends, relatives and handlers.

Wahlberg insists that the show's lead character, young megastar Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier), is "not based on me." But he's a big fan of the similar-in-spirit Larry Sanders Show. Among Chase's inner circle are his agent, his older brother/personal trainer, and his best friend, a pizza parlor owner turned personal manager. "We're not pulling any punches," promises Wahlberg, who hopes to recruit Hollywood big shots to appear as themselves.

Canada's Tribute had an interview with Jeremy Piven a while ago when Chasing Liberty came out:

B.L. Are we going to see you back on another TV series anytime soon?
J.P. Actually, I just shot something for HBO called Entourage with Mark Wahlberg.

B.L. He executive produced that too?
J.P. He did. So, we’ll see what happens with that. I didn’t think I would go back to TV. I haven’t read a television script in years. This thing was really kind of interesting and I had done The Larry Sanders Show, which kind of kicked off regular programming on HBO and this is the backstage life of an A-list movie star and his entourage. So it’s kind of an interesting world and I couldn’t turn down this kind of character because he was so insane.

B.L. So what does he do exactly?
J.P. He’s a Hollywood agent.

B.L. So who did you model after for that?
J.P. I won’t even honor him by mentioning his name. But I will crush him.

I'm a blog addict and found this little antidote from someone who lived next to a house used as one of the locations for the Entourage last winter.

From MW.com the link to the motorbike MW was on. You can bid and try and win the custom bike from RM Auctions. Proceeds go to Mark and Paul's foundations. And I just noticed the designer and builders are from Hayward. That's about 20 minutes from me.

03-07
E Factor discounts rumours of Mark buying Nells with Adrian Brody as Boston Herald wrote in their gossip column. He also reports The Entourage is now in pre-production.

Mark's The Italian Job hits Region 2 Monday.

Rock Star premiered on VH1 Sunday. Nothing special, they bleep out all the bad words.

03-01
Congrats to LOTR for the Oscar bonanza! And there is a Mark connection, his costar in TIJ and The Yards, Charlize won her Oscar for best actress.

And it's Super Tuesday tomorrow for a dozen states. Don't forget to vote!

Page Six is reporting Mark may be buying a NYC nightclub called Nell's. Given E-Factor's posting that hints at something happening...

Juvies is at the Sedona International Film Festival in Arizona.

02-18
Looks like Scarlett is going to be a spokesperson for Calvin Klein Fragrance. Good thing she can ask her co star in the Black Dahlia about the whole deal, huh? :)

02-16
Kazuko found Fox Searchlight has their site for I Heart Huckabee's is up but points to the wrong trailer. Go to Dark Horizon's for the teaser trailer (right click to save).

02-14
Pics of the All Star Party at Film Magic, Wireimage and video of the red carpet to the party (a bit of Donnie accusing Mark of disloyalty to the Celtics and Mark saying Donnie cries when the Celtics lose!). Also screencaps of Mark on the Best Damn Sports Show Period on Vevie's site.

02-13
PR release from Sentient Jet who is co-sponsoring the All Star party.

02-12
Looks like Mark buys Harry Rosen clothes.

02-10
Thanks to Jen again at DW.com, looks like Mark is on Friday's show and also got confirmation on Mark's end (finally). So get your VCR's ready Friday! update Donnie is supposed to be on that show too!

In yesterday's Herald, they had a tidbit about the party - which will raise money for Mark's and Paul's foundations.

Also in the column was word Mark was in the running for the lead in a Joel Schumacher-directed film version of ``Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.'' That sounds pretty scary, I keep on remembering David Cassidy and Donny Osmond playing Joseph. Mark may have sang in Rock Star but his voice was mixed with 2 other guys. This show would require a bit more range and a different style of singing. It'll be a challenge alright. Now if Shumacher decides to make it into a drama with no singing, it might work. Will have to think about it, maybe when the Phantom of the Opera comes out I'll have a better idea - which is also directed by Schumacher.

For those who don't know, what this movie is about, check out Andrew Llyod Weber's site - yup same guy that did Cats, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and a ton more.

02-07
Thanks to Jen at DonnieWahlberg.com who checked on the Herald info I forwarded to her and she had this to say: [...] about the Best Damn Sports Show Period Party that Donnie, Mark and Paul Pierce are supposed to host. It is going to be the Best Damn Sports Show Period All-Star Party and it will happen on Friday, Feb. 13th at a club called 9000 at 9000 Sunset Blvd. It is a VIP Party that is by invitation only. I have been told that clips from the party won't be shown on the Best Damn Sports Show Period until Monday, Feb. 16th, or Tuesday, Feb. 17th. I have also been told that if they have a lot of clips, they may show clips the whole week of the 16th.

Also Sylvie wrote in to say she saw a commercial which mentioned Mark as a guest on the show itself next week. No specific date but you can check the show's webpage or better yet tape it the whole week. Considering how he sneaked onto GMA on Monday, he might show up on a different day!

02-04
From Boston Herald talks about Paul Pierce, the Celtics captain being selected to play in the All Star game, which will be held Feb 15 in Los Angeles, has this interesting bit:  When he gets to Los Angeles for the festivities next week, Pierce plans a less-rigorous schedule leading up to the Feb. 15 game than in his past. He, Donnie and Mark Wahlberg will host a Friday night party in conjunction with Fox Sports' "Best Damn Sports Show Period,'' but there won't be much beyond that in his hometown.

Cute little story about Mark giving a car ride to an interviewer from the Calgary Sun circa Reniassance Man.

Did you catch the True Hollywood Story? It was as expected of an unathorized biography, no interviews with anyone connected to Mark's current career. They did interview the Funky Bunch guys, Mary Alford, and Dick Scott. Also interviewed were Boston Herald gossip columnist, a film reviewer, Frank Sanello - the unathorized print biographer, US Weekly and a few other press people. A vast majority of the show was concentrated on his Marky Mark days (like 35 minutes of it!).  Also included was an interview with former GLAAD Media Director Scott Seomin about the Calvin Klein, The Word and Madonna incidents.

Anyway, they bumrushed thru his movies (10 minutes out of an one hour show!) and did a quick 2 minutes on his foundation. It's like a TV version of US Weekly - that's not a good thing.

02-02
Don't forget Mark's True Hollywood Story airs tonight. They will reair it if you miss it.

Looks like Sony is the studio handling The Black Dahlia according to today's article about Ellroy doing another project for Paramount.

And congrats to the Patriots and local native Tom Brady for the Super Bowl!

01-29
The E! channel posted the official blurb on Mark's episode of True Hollywood Story. See a clip in Real Video or Windows Media.

And don't forget the Super Bowl Sunday. The New England Patriots play the Carolina Panthers. Mark's been known to go to Patriot games - you never know.

01-28
News from Variety (via Yahoo) that Scarlett Johansson joins the cast of The Black Dahlia and a start date of May 24th in LA.

01-26
Well I get an email today informing me Mark was on Good Morning America today! Of course I was at work already, couldn't post anything there or get to my VCR across the bay. But big props to Carol, Director of the advocacy organization Kamens' Angels for letting me know.  (You know unlike certain people who get paid as you know who's managers) updated! The official site for the documentary and Kazuko found the GMA summary of Mark's appearance.

What was Mark doing there? He was talking about a documentary called Juvies he narrated. Whay is is about? From Community Transitions: Over the past 2 years, CHANCE FILMS has taught a video production workshop at Eastlake Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles, the largest juvenile facility in the United States, to 15 kids who are being tried as adults. Most of these children face incarceration from 25 years to life in adult prisons for crimes ranging from carjacking and robbery to murder. By actually videotaping and interviewing themselves, the kids share their authentic voices, creating a genuine and intimate experience for the viewer. Out of this workshop, a documentary emerged as a professional video crew documented them at work and continues to follow them through the criminal justice system. The documentary follows 15 kids from juvenile hall onto county jail and then into state prison where they serve out their sentences. Sheriff Lee Baca of LA County Jail and the Attorney General of California, Bill Lockyer, have given CHANCE FILMS unprecedented access to follow the juveniles as they move from juvenile hall into County Jail and then on to State Prison. (Out of 15 juveniles in the class, 12 are in state prison, many with life sentences.)

It has its world premiere February 1st at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. Good timing I suppose as his unauthorized bio is on E! on the following Monday.

You know there's something to be said about being humble, but geez don't you think  something like this could actually use publicity. Let people know about it instead of just turning on the TV and be surprised to see it or in this case being told after the fact?

01-24
TVNOW has
Mark Wahlberg: The E! True Hollywood Story
60 minutes- (CC), N, In Stereo

The life and career of singer/actor Mark Wahlberg.

Mon  Feb  2  09:00P   E!- Entertainment Television
Wed  Feb  4  08:00P   E!- Entertainment Television
Fri  Feb  6  06:00P   E!- Entertainment Television
Sun  Feb  8  08:00P   E!- Entertainment Television
Sun  Feb  8  11:00P   E!- Entertainment Television
Mon  Feb  9  08:00A   E!- Entertainment Television
Wed  Feb 11  04:00P   E!- Entertainment Television
Thu  Feb 12  10:00P   E!- Entertainment Television
Sun  Feb 15  10:00A   E!- Entertainment Television

There's a bunch of interesting tidbits from David O Russell about Miramax in Peter Biskind's book "Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film" including how he really didn't want Miramax involved in I Heart Huckabee's - getting Warner to be the buffer before ultimately the deal going totally to Fox Searchlight.

Russell gives a dig at Jonathan Demme for The Truth About Charlie, saying Demme had burned thru all the cash at Universal so Russell had to go looking elsewhere for funding for Huckabee.

Also in it is a rehash of the whole The Yards fiasco with James Gray and allusions Harvey is punishing him by keeping him under contract indefinately.

Another goodie is Mark warned Affleck and Damon Universal was looking to buy their Good Will Hunting script and never actually make it into a movie.

Amusing bit on the India remake of Fear I wrote about back in November, with  2 of the stars saying they never saw it and the actor playing the David(Mark) inspired charcater saying: "I only hope that our movie is as good as 'Fear'."

01-22
Entertainment Weekly's double issue (Jan 23/30 issue with Halle Berry as Catwoman) has a little column on Huckabee. Seems David O. Russell has been editing nonstop and couldn't really tell EW what the movie was about because it "would give it away." But the big thing is it has October as it's release date.

Dang is this like the 5th movie Mark had that opens in October? Not exactly a great spot - too late to qualify as a summer movie and too early for Oscar buzz. I guess we'll see how Fox Searchlight promotes it.

This is a cool list of the characters in Ellroy's Black Dahlia book.

And did you know his book was adapted as play? It premiered in England back in 1998 and had it's American debut at the Yale Rep this past Fall. Check out the pictures from their production.

Looks like no True Hollywood on Mark this past Sunday.

01-14
DVD Times has the final specs for the Region 2 DVD of The Italian Job. They are the same as the US version, so no need to buy it if you have Region 1's.

01-12
E Factor, Mark's Assistant posted over at MW.com and let us know HBO ordered 8 episodes, though no word to when it will air and that a character was named after him.

With news Josh has signed on to do Mozart & the Whale and it starting in March and De Palma filming his next project Toyer in September of this year, looks like the summer will be prime time for The Black Dahlia.

01-08
Mark has this obsession with boxer movies doesn't he? Variety's Michael Fleming writes that Mark has signed onto Brain DePalma's The Black Dahlia (based on James Ellroy's book. He also wrote LA Confidential which became the Oscar winning - Adapted Screenplay - film of the same name). His co-star is Josh Hartnett :

Wahlberg and Hartnett will play ex-boxers who become L.A. cops and become involved in a massive manhunt for the killer who tortured and mutilated Short, whose brutal demise shocked the city. The killer was never found, and numerous other books have been written claiming to reveal the culprit.

Like Ellroy's novel, the movie will use the famous murder as a backdrop. The core of the film is the relationship between the partners as they are exposed to corruption and deceit. They also become rivals for the affection of a woman who's a dead ringer for the murdered girl.

No word on who Mark plays (Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert and Lee Blanchard - hoping it's Bucky) but he certainly would fit the boxer type. I don't know about Josh, last I saw he was a lanky guy in Hollywood Homicide. Didn't give a boxer vibe at all and alot of  film sites were disappointed in Josh's casting. Better hit the gym Hartnett! Also no word when it starts filming, but according to De Palma a la Mod  De Palma's in Berlin right now looking for cinematographers, so he must be getting ready to start soon.  Signature who is co-financing this movie has a first look deal with Columbia/Sony, so could be them.

If you're curious about what the movie is about and the direction of the adaptation (ie dying for spoilers), Film Force did a script review over a year ago on an early version of the script and there's some bits and pieces from when David Fincher was attached in 1999 at Cinescape's Development Hell section.

There was a documentary called James Ellroy's Feast of Death that ran on BBC2 a couple years ago and this winter on Showtime that you might want to watch for background. I remember it had some pretty grisley pictures from the case.  In it Ellroy talks about how his Mother's murder lead him to his obsession with the Black Dahlia murder.  If you want some facts on the murder of Elizabeth Short (aka The Black Dahlia), see this site.

Seems to be another spate of Black Dahlia pics coming on 2004-05. There's Severed directed by Marilyn Manson's Beautiful People video director, Floria Sigismondi and ? directed by indie director Ramzi Abed. Abed's set to film in March, while Severed has been in the works since 1999. Should be interesting how these indie productions affect DePalma's.

Thanks to Kazuko, link to a pic of Mark & Robert at the Back to Before play over Thanksgiving.

Mark is in Hawaii playing the Pro-Am Tounament. Pics from the AP via Yahoo: Pic 1 Pic 2.