The lawsuit, filed Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court, claims Wahlberg, 30, went ape on Taylor, punching the bodyguard in the face and biting him on the arm. It's not clear what spurred the alleged brawl, but it was said to have occurred outside the Serafina restaurant in lower Manhattan around 4 a.m. on November 16. 

According to court papers, the actor apparently wasn't the one in need of protection. "[Wahlberg] maliciously and intentionally, and without just cause or provocation assaulted, beat and bit" Taylor, inflicting on him "severe, painful personal injuries [which] prevented him from attending to his usual duties and occupations," the suit reads. 

Taylor is seeking $1 million in damages to pay for those hefty hospital bills and another $1 million in punitive damages against the movie star for his "willful" and "malicious act." 

Taylor's attorney, Robert Berkowitz, did not return phone calls. No criminal charges were filed and police and prosecutors have no information about the alleged run-in. 

Either way, maybe Wahlberg should think twice about hiring extra security. The Boston native once had a reputation in his youth for getting into fisticuffs when he wasn't watching older brother Donnie dance his way up the charts in New Kids on the Block. But these days, he seems more focused on a budding movie career. 

Wahlberg gained critical notices in Paul Thomas Anderson's porn satire Boogie Nights and David O. Russell's 1999 film Three Kings, before starring in two successive summer blockbusters, The Perfect Storm and director Tim Burton's update of The Planet of the Apes. 

Wahlberg's reps declined to comment on the suit. 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor and ex-rapper Mark Wahlberg is being sued for $2 million by his former bodyguard who alleges he was assaulted and beaten by him outside a lower Manhattan restaurant, a lawyer said on Monday.

Wahlberg, who has appeared in such movies as ``Planet of the Apes'' and ``The Perfect Storm'' since trading in his hip-hop Marky Mark persona for the silver screen, allegedly bit his bodyguard, Leonard Taylor, on the arm.

The complaint was filed by the lawyer representing Taylor in Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday.

Taylor's lawyer, Robert Berkowitz, refused to say on Monday whether Taylor tried to press criminal charges. Police and prosecutors for the Manhattan district attorney have no information about the alleged assault.

The suit said the alleged incident occurred outside the Serafina restaurant in Soho on Nov. 16.

The civil lawsuit alleges that Wahlberg ``maliciously and intentionally, and without just cause or provocation assaulted, beat and bit'' Taylor, causing him ``severe, painful personal injuries'' that ``prevented him from attending to his usual duties and occupation.''

Taylor is seeking $1 million in damages to cover the cost of the medical care he allegedly needed because of the assault and another $1 million in punitive damages for the ``willful'' and ``malicious'' act.

A spokesman for Wahlberg's Los Angeles agent, Steven Levinson, declined comment. 

COPS at the 9th Precinct might want to talk to Mark Wahlberg. A 32-year-old East Harlem man, Leonard Taylor, claims he was assaulted by the "Boogie Nights"/"Planet of the Apes" star two Thursdays ago at 4 a.m. outside Serafina. But Taylor, who alleges he was punched in the face and bitten on the arm, seemed fuzzy on other details. The quick-fisted Wahlberg, who got into trouble as a teenager in Boston, is getting the benefit of a doubt. The cops think Taylor is looking for a payday. 

HE'S WILD ABOUT HAIRY ARI
Mark Wahlberg admits he fantasized about lovemaking with a hairy Helena Bonham Carter as Ari the ape, on the set of Planet of the Apes. Jenny Cooney Carrillo reports.

This is a huge film that comes with great expectations. Can you talk about the meaning of this film?
Well, I really need to see this film again. This was the first time I have ever watched a film that I was a part of and felt so disconnected from it while watching it. Usually by the first two minutes into a film I am picking it apart, criticizing what I should have done, or what I would do differently if I could go back. But with this film I was literally just sucked in. There's so much to offer and so much going beneath the surface, I really need to see it again. I would love to watch it again with Tim sitting next to me and a remote control in my hands so that I could pause or rewind certain things. But the first time I saw it, I was in awe.

On screen you and Helena Bonham Carter, who plays an ape, have a certain chemistry. How did you feel about that relationship? 
Well, I've always said, she has a lot of the qualities I look for in a woman, aside from the facial hair (laughing). You know, I was willing to go anywhere with the part. I told Tim, when he explained the relationship to me, this was going to be difficult for me to believe, let alone convince an audience. But with Helena Bonham Carter being cast in the role, and what she brought to the part, and Rick Baker's make up, she kind of looks like Janet Jackson. I don't want Janet to get upset; I like Janet Jackson. But she was just phenomenal in the part. I mean, I was very attracted to her. So were a lot of other guys on the set, actually. I remember Kris Kristofferson came up to me one day and tapped me on the shoulder and said "Don't think I'm crazy, but would you do it with her?" And I said "Of course I would!" He started laughing because he thought he was the only one who was fantasizing about her. In this film we don't go far, but the potential is there, you know, to take it farther in the next film.

What is your commitment to the role? Are you going to return in a sequel? And what was it like to meet Charleton Heston, the originator of the role?
I am not under contract for any more movies, but I am certainly willing to do it if Tim is doing it. I would love to work with Tim again either on a sequel to this or something else. As for Mr. Heston, I did meet him the day he was shooting. It was one of my few days off but I went down to the set to witness the truly historic moment. I heard the voice before I saw him, and he was in full make-up. He came up and we started to talk, I introduced myself, and he paid me some really nice compliments that I didn't believe, but I took them anyway. And, um, he ripped off half his nose appliance because he had been in full make-up all day which is really uncomfortable, from what I've heard. But we just spoke for a short while, and it was really nice for me. I'll be interested to hear what he thinks.

This film is a re-make of a classic, as is your next project, The Truth About Charlie which originally starred Cary Grant. How do you feel about taking over these roles that were originated by such legendary actors?
Well, if it had nor been Tim Burton directing this and Jonathan Demming doing The Truth About Charlie, I would never have thought about doing it. I am very much driven by filmmakers and guys that I've admired for a long time. I am trying to learn as much as I can, so I find working with guys of their caliber, I will do pretty much anything. I had asked them if they were really sure, because I had seen both films after taking on the roles and before we started production, and I just wanted to make sure they really wanted me for these roles, since Charleton Heston and Cary Grant both have very different styles of acting from me. In both cases I never really saw myself as totally right, but Tim and Jonathan certainly did, and I think they know a few things, I certainly trust their judgments, and I knew with each of them I would have a wonderful experience, and at the same time, learn a lot.

How do you choose your roles, then? What are your criteria?
It really depends on the filmmaker. I have always talked about, you know, really wanting something completely different from the last or anything I've done up until that point. But I would re-visit certain things to work with the right filmmaker. I would play small parts. I would put the make-up on to work with Tim Burton, You know, it's the filmmaker first and the material second, part third and supporting cast fourth. And you know people say you can't make a great movie without a great script. I think you can make a great movie with a great director, and I would be willing to sacrifice my own wants and desires in order to work with a major filmmaker.

If you were to play one of the apes, would you have the patience to go through the make-up every day?
That was something I was concerned about. When I met Tim we didn't talk about a specific role. I just expressed my interest in and willingness to do whatever he wanted me to do. If that would have been playing an ape I would have done it. If that meant wearing a loincloth I would have done it. Tim fortunately didn't want to see me in a loincloth.

Actually you were pretty adamant about not wanting to wear the loincloth, correct?
You know, I am not comfortable wearing the loincloth. Barefoot with a loincloth, I mean, you know people say they want to see me in that, and I'm like I would love to see Estella's chest all the time too, but it's not fair. Why can't people understand that I just prefer to be clothed? I mean, you're running around being tackled by gorillas, it's not going to be very comfortable. And it was not about getting away from the whole underwear thing, as people have said, it's just not very comfortable. I prefer to be clothed like most people.

So how has your fame affected you?
I would rather do without it but I can deal with it. I mean, I think it's a little easier for me than most people. Everybody already knows my business and I've been through it, I'm just doing my own thing. So it's okay. I just have a hard time reading about my personal life in the newspapers. But it's part of the gig. There are advantages and disadvantages. You get free clothes, you get into a club for free, but with me once I get in there is usually someone who wants to start a fight. Everyone knows who I am but I don't know anybody, or what anybody it capable of. You kind of feel like you're in a little box and everyone's peeking and poking at you.

What do you feel about monkeys, after working on this film? Do you believe they have a soul?
Well, I think that yes, they do. I think they are a couple of genes off from being able to talk and be very much like us. I spent a lot of time with a couple of chimps and they're really, really strange. It's scary how close they are to being human and how smart they are an how much they really know. I had an opportunity to be alone with them as well as with the trainers. And when they're alone they're different. I mean, they're smart. They know what they want and how to get it. And it's weird. Then, in terms of the rest of it, I am religious and have to listen to the Bible, so you know, you never really know…I know that probably sounds kind of cold, but that's just how I feel about it.

In real life you recently broke up with your girlfriend. What did you learn from that and how does it feel to be back in he dating game?
Well, you know, the places I am going to right now because of work, there's probably a good chance I am not going to find, you know, the marrying type. It's unfortunate that because of work and stuff I don't have the luxury of going to places, aside from church, where you find the kind of woman I'm looking for. The last relationship was not the right one for me, so now, maybe when I take some time off, I'll find Mrs. Right. What will make her the one is a lot of things, but mostly her intelligence, her convictions, her willingness to stand up for what she believes in. She's pretty solid.

Fashion Wire Daily Paris July 3, 2001 - Nobu opened its doors in Paris yesterday with much feasting - but little fanfare. Aside from Mark Wahlberg, the Chaplin sisters, Alain Ducasse, Andrée Putman, several very tall Russian models and, of course, Nobu Matsushisa, sushi chef to the stars, there were slim celebrity pickings.

Wahlberg, in Paris shooting Jonathan Demme's "Charade" remake ("The Truth About Charlie," in which Wahlberg plays the Cary Grant role), sauntered off the set in very un-Cary Grant-like cargo pants and T-shirt. "It's tough being stuck on the set and knowing that there are so many interesting things to do. I want to have fun and go out and eat," said Wahlberg, before sitting down to enjoy a plate of spicy chicken skewers.

The crowd gorged on sushi and Veuve Clicquot past midnight, as they waited to see if Madonna, in town for a concert and a notorious L.A. and New York Nobu nosher, would make a showing. Nope.

But the biggest no-show of the evening was Nobu co-owner Robert De Niro. "He's shooting a film in L.A. with Eddie Murphy," explained Nobu. "He phoned and told me not to get into trouble at the party. I told him 'Don't worry, I'm not Bob De Niro,'" alluding to De Niro's run-in with police while in town shooting "Ronin" three years ago.

Paris-based Jonathan Amar designed the 150-seat lounge bar and restaurant. The Zen-ness of bamboo, orchid and black river stones on the far wall are offset by the '70s-era glowing yellow and puce perspex paneling on the sushi bar, while dark walnut floors are starkly balanced by pale, tan leather chairs and banquettes.

The rue Marbeuf eatery is Nobu's thirteenth since De Niro and Matsushisa first teamed up in New York in 1987. Their Paris partners, businessman Hubert Boukobza and media personality Jean-Luc Delarue, jointly own the still-hot Korova, just down the street.

Okay, let's get this out of the way first. Rumors to the contrary, Mark Wahlberg doesn't beat the crap out of people for calling him Marky Mark anymore. In fact, during our interview during a roundtable in New York City promoting his latest film Planet of the Apes, Mark didn't even bat an eye when the subject came up. Wahlberg says of his Funky Bunch days: "In a perfect world, it would have been Mark Wahlberg the professional athlete. But, I learned some valuable lessons from being Marky Mark and venturing off into that world. I learned a lot of not what to do."

What he has learned since being Marky Mark is to hook up with some pretty amazing directors. So far, Wahlberg has waxed for David O. Russell (Three Kings), Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights), Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm), James Gray (The Yards), and Jonathan Demme (the upcoming The Truth About Charlie). Not bad for an actor who less than 10 years ago was starring in workout tapes and underwear ads.

Who would he like to work with next? "I really like Wes Anderson, whom I saw the other day. But I've actually worked with a lot of talented young guys that I've already committed to working with again this year. Working with David Russell, Paul Thomas Anderson and James Gray. It really doesn't get much better than that. There are some interesting people out there like Ang Lee. I talked to Francis Ford Coppola about something a couple weeks ago too. There are a lot of up and coming directors that have kind of an edge that some of the older guys have lost."

Now, Wahlberg hopes to command the summer with another of his favorite directors: Tim Burton. "I committed to doing whatever he wanted within five minutes of our meeting. He's just one of those guys. He's got such a unique vision so I figured I could learn something from him."

But, he admits, Wahlberg was a little nervous about the project: "Acting with people in gorilla suits is not exactly something that turned me on but I had to keep reminding myself the reason why I was there. There were days that I started to panic. The first day I freaked out. There was this kid with tribal markings on his face, a guy in a gorilla suit and Helena. It all seemed pretty ridiculous."

Not for true Planet of the Apes fans though. Was he a die-hard fan like Burton? "I had seen the original when I was 10 and it didn't make much of an impact on me. Preparing for this, I went back and watched a few of them and realized why everybody loved them so much."

Revisiting a film that is beloved by a lot of people puts some stress on all involved. How happy was he with both the ending and the film in general? "I thought, 'Wow.' I get [the ending] obviously. I know where it's going. It left a few doors open obviously. I've never been in a movie aside from Boogie Nights that the ending was talked about so much. And with Boogie Nights, everyone was in complete agreement but with this, there were constant debates."

But the flick was not without some puzzling moments for Wahlberg: "When I saw the film I said 'Wait a second...' I was talking to Daena [Estella Warren's character] about nothing really that important and there's a reaction shot of Ari (Carter) in near tears. And I'm like, 'What's wrong? What's going on?'"

Before Planet of the Apes, Wahlberg cut his action chops on The Perfect Storm and Three Kings. Does he get a lot of action movie scripts now? "Of course, there are a lot. It's always a shooter, blowing things up, with a video director. People are starting to say, "Well, now you're a big action star," but that sort of thing has never really interested me. It doesn't mean I'll start doing those types of films. It's just not going to happen."

But, if he did: "It would have to be really smart. I watch action movies some – LA to New York is a long flight, you know I'll pop one in on the DVD. It would depend on the filmmaker. But to do a senseless action movie just doesn't seem like it is in the cards. If you have a great director and a good script, you're going to get a great movie. With a fantastic script and a piece of s*** video director, you're gonna get a piece of s***. I would repeat a performance to work with an interesting director."

Does that mean we'll all be settling into the multiplex next summer to another Planet of the Apes movie? "If Tim's in, I'm in." 

He was very eager to shed his image as the ill-tempered rapper with a knack for rubbing feminists, gays and ethnic minorities the wrong way - and to cover-up for his, er, exposure as a brooding, muscle-bound model for Calvin Klein underwear - but when he first set forth on an acting career, he found two major obstacles blocking his path: One was (still is?) dealing with the perception shared by many in the industry regarding the insolent "name" he'd made for himself; the other was the moniker itself, which ultimately had to go before anyone might consider taking him seriously.

Thus did the hot-headed Marky Mark, frontman for an early-'90s rap band known as the Funky Bunch, apparently come-of-age, turning over a new leaf by getting back in touch with his own roots, reclaiming his given name, and becoming the serious-minded actor Mark Wahlberg. If anyone ever scoffed at his dubious beginnings or ever dismissed him as just another buff body or ever doubted his acting abilities (based on early roles in the likes of Renaissance Man or Fear), Wahlberg has effectively and systematically confounded his skeptics.

As a vulnerable teen-turned-veritable stud in director Paul Thomas Anderson's '70s porn-industry saga Boogie Nights (1997), he redefined his bad-ass image with a performance that was suitably tough and surprisingly tender in equal measure. More recently, coincidentally paired opposite George Clooney in both, Wahlberg scored with critics as a stalwart Desert Storm trooper in Three Kings (1999) and with audiences as an ill-fated New England fisherman in last year's box-office blockbuster The Perfect Storm.

Now, in director Tim Burton's reimagined Planet of the Apes (opening July 27), the 30-year-old actor seems to be taking a shot at mainstream superstardom. Loosely based on the novel by Pierre Boulle (filmed before in 1968), it's easily the most expensive and most hyped movie in Wahlberg's relatively short career. It's his first attempt at playing a bona fide action hero - he earned a reported $10 million for playing the "Charlton Heston role" of an astronaut mysteriously transported to a parallel universe where simians rule - and it's the first time Wahlberg has received solo above-the-title billing, to boot.

"I'm just glad it's not second to George Clooney again, because I've had enough of THAT," he quips during a recent interview in New York. But, seriously, Wahlberg continues, "Nothing else mattered to me except working with Tim Burton, you know? It wasn't about making a good career move or whether the movie was going to make a lot of money. I signed on specifically to do a Tim Burton movie, but all of a sudden it's turning into my debut as a big-time action hero or whatever. There's all this pressure on me right now, but I never thought about any of that at the time."

That Wahlberg would call Planet of the Apes the most physically challenging experience of his career is really saying something, considering he came into the project fresh from The Perfect Storm. "It's different. I mean, I guess I'd rather get beaten up by a bunch of apes than submerged in all that water. That was much more uncomfortable, but this was physically draining, too. In Perfect Storm, we didn't have to be in great shape. We were doing the fisherman thing, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. On this, I had to get beaten up for 12 or 14 hours a day, and then go work out for another hour," he explains with a laugh.

And that's not counting all the "verbal abuse" Wahlberg claims he suffered at the hands of his heavily disguised co-stars (including Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter and Michael Clarke Duncan). As he puts it, "I guess I sort of asked for it. I'd always give them a hard time, because they had to show up at 4 or 5 in the morning to start getting into their ape make-up, and I'd stroll in around 8 or 9 bragging about what a full-night's sleep I'd had. Somebody like Tim Roth, who's such a nice guy OUT of his makeup, got back at me on the set by calling me Marky Mark all the time."

Will poor Wahlberg NEVER live down his past? "You know, for a long time I figured I deserved it, because I've done a lot of bad and stupid things, but by now I think I've just about paid for my mistakes," he replies. "It bothered me for a while, but it really doesn't anymore. I've certainly proven myself to the people it really matters to. Filmmakers and my peers, they seem to have let me live it down, so I don't mind it that much if I'm walking down the street and somebody says, 'Yo, Marky Mark, what's up?'"

What's up for Wahlberg is the romantic thriller The Truth About Charlie, which he recently finished shooting in Paris. Directed by Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), it's a remake of the '60s classic Charade, with Wahlberg and Thandie Newton (Mission Impossible 2) in the Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn roles (and with Tim Robbins as Walter Matthau). And this fall he opens in Rock Star (with Jennifer Aniston), playing the lead singer of a "tribute band" struggling to find his own voice.

Wahlberg says he really related to the role - and, as the former hotheaded rapper continues to establish a legitimate acting career for himself, there's little reason to doubt him.