Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis Interview, Max Payne

MoviesOnline sat down with Mark Wahlberg, Beau Bridges, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, and Mila Kunis at the Los Angeles press day for “Max Payne,” the video game adaptation directed by John Moore.

Mythic anti-hero Max Payne (Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg) is a maverick cop who is determined to track down those responsible for the brutal murders of his family and partner. Hell-bent on revenge, his obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmare journey into a dark underworld. As the mystery deepens, Max is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and face an unthinkable betrayal. He has little regard for rules – and nothing to lose – as he investigates a series of mysterious murders that could be tied to the death of his wife and child. But there are massive forces, both real and beyond imagination, that are conspiring to keep the devastating truth hidden – and Max forever silenced.

Mila Kunis plays Mona Sax, a beautiful Russian mobster and assassin; Olga Kurylenko (who stars in the upcoming James Bond Film “Quantum of Solace”) plays Natasha, Mona’s thrill-seeking younger sister; Chris “Ludacris” Bridges is Internal Affairs Detective Jim Bravura; and Beau Bridges is Max’s mentor, B.B.

Moore, a gifted visual stylist, envisioned “Max Payne” as a neo noir action-thriller that straddles a knife edge between reality and the unreal. His use of subjective camera in the film – putting us directly in Max’s world and in his head, as well as the use of state-of-the-art slow-motion cameras – hurtles audiences, along with Max, on a roller-coaster ride of action, thrills, mystery and startling, supernatural-tinged imagery.

Here’s what the cast had to tell us about their new film:

MoviesOnline: Mila, this is your first kick butt action role, did you enjoy the clothes, the guns and the training? Was it different for you.
 
MILA KUNIS: I didn’t enjoy the clothes very much. I enjoyed the guns and I enjoyed the training a lot.
 
MoviesOnline: What did you have to do?
 
MILA KUNIS: I had weapons safety and then I had to… John for some reason made me learn how to take an MK5H apart and put it back together blindfolded. I really don’t know why but I now know how to do that in case anyone wants it. I liked shooting the gun a lot more than I thought I would. I think I like that. The clothes sucked. Oh my God, it was awful. Mark was like bundled up in jackets and wet suits and coats and turtlenecks and I was in a leather bustier and black pants and 5 inch heels.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Well, it looked good. It was sexy.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: She needed to understand actor safety. She’s swinging that stick at me like a wild person. You’re not supposed to hit somebody in the movies.
 
MILA KUNIS: You kind of liked it.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: It’s just make pretend. Only I get to hit for real.
 
MILA KUNIS: Okay, okay.
 
MoviesOnline: For each of you, can you talk about what attracted you to this project and what you enjoyed most about making this film?
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Well, I’ve already said what attracted me to the project was being able to point a gun at Mark Wahlberg and get away with it and live to tell about it today. So you know, that’s definitely why I signed on to do this movie. Just to point a gun at this man.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: I thought he liked me. [laughter]
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: No, I’m just messing with him but honestly I try to pick those diverse roles and things that I haven’t done before. This is my first time getting a little piece of the action and then playing on that side of the law. You know, I love surprising myself and of course everyone else that watches, so Jim Bravura, Internal Affairs Agent, my first time actually playing that role and I enjoyed doing it. It was actually written for a 60-year-old white man. I went to audition for it. I got the call from John Moore 2 days later saying that I got the part and I was extremely excited. I’m even more excited for this to come out on October 17th.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: And Theater of the Mind coming out on November 25th.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: See, he knows. [laughter] Mila…
 
MILA KUNIS: I just really wanted to beat Mark up and I did and it was really great.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: I'm a parent.
 
MILA KUNIS: It was really empowering. I got a lot of my anger out and angst and yeah, that’s it.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: I had never heard of the game, Max Payne, but I have 5 kids. When I told them, I said, "I’m going to be in Max Payne," they said “Max Payne! Oh, man!” so I knew it was a game that had a big following so that was exciting. And then I read the script and you could just tell by the descriptions that it was going to have a real high sense of style and John Moore really brought that. It’s always exciting to be in something that has that going for it. He’s from that whole technical side and brought that understanding to it. But apart from that, we also in the very beginning talked a lot about the human element to the characters and I always like that, you know, getting into background. We didn’t rehearse so much all the words but just really talking about where these people come from and why they do what they do. I think it’s a real strong story – this guy who’s going off to find the killer of his wife and child. That’s something different from a lot of game movies that come out of games and the play’s the thing like Shakespeare said a long time ago. So I’m glad to be a part of it. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: I just did it because they offered it to me. [laughter] I just played a science teacher in The Happening, I played an accountant in The Lovely Bones, and it was time to go back and do what I think best suits me, busting some heads and having some fun and kicking ass on the bad guys.
 
MoviesOnline: Chris, were you looking for a role like this? It’s very different from what you’ve played before.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Yes, exactly. That’s pretty much what I was saying about why I took the role. I definitely was looking for something that I haven’t necessarily done yet because I like to of course expand my body of work and I think that this adds to the resume of me continuing to do different roles. So absolutely, I was looking for a role like this.
 
MoviesOnline: Mark, there are some signature Max Payne moves that you get to do like the devil guns and the slow motion. How did it feel to act those out?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: The idea of it was fun but I'm not as young as I used to be. It wasn't like we had a gigantic budget so we were on a green screen with wires and everything. We basically shot all the action on film. But no, being able to do those kinds of things and especially the third act of the film when he finally actually takes the drug and really goes crazy, it's what every kid dreams about doing.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: He'd come to work every time, he would probably never talk about this, but he'd have some new Band-Aid on him, a new thing wrapped up. [LAUGHTER] He does some pretty remarkable physical feats in this.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Yeah, John is a very demanding director, you know, and he knows exactly what he's doing. We wanted to make it look real so we just basically got in there and tried to do as much as possible.
 
MoviesOnline:  Can you talk about your character's darker side?
 
BEAU BRIDGES: I still haven't seen the film. I'm seeing it for the first time Monday night at the premiere. I'm really excited to see it but I've seen snatches of it and I think what hopefully will set it apart for an adventure film, because that's really what it is at its heart is an entertainment film, but these characters are very lifelike and nothing is as it seems. None of the people are who you think they are when you first meet them, and they turn out to be maybe something a little different. But I was really attracted to the whole kind of father-son relationship that my character had with Max Payne. And we hit it off pretty good at the beginning. I have great respect for him. He comes really loaded for bear when it comes to - -
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Well, that was mutual for sure.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: And I know he's a family guy. He's a dad and I responded to all that. So it wasn't much of a stretch to get into that part of our relationship and I think it was real key to tell the story, the movie that we did. But I think BB, my guy, he just really wants Max to evolve to his fullest potential. I think that's really his, that's where he wants to take it. Max just doesn't see the light, fortunately.
 
MoviesOnline: Is there any correlation between Vincent Chase playing Aquaman and you playing Max Payne?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: No. No, there will be if they ask me to do the sequel. Chris Bridges is going to play Max Payne in the sequel. We've already discussed that. No, Vince is not so smart when it comes to making his choices and obviously in this business, it's all about making the right choices. Me and Chris have talked about it quite a bit, both coming from the music world. No, Vince is, hopefully he'll rebound. It's going to be a long journey. People have enjoyed this season more than anything because they like seeing people down. He's going to go to a pretty dark place before he gets to rebound so I hope you guys enjoy it.
 
MoviesOnline: Is there a continuity error between when you hit Chris O'Donnell and only later he has the injury?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Yeah, it's called trying to make a PG-13 so you can't hit him and then see the blood coming out, but later on if he's a little bit bloodied up, then it's okay. It's called trying to trick everybody into giving you a PG-13 because we want more people to see this film. If not, if we weren't making a PG-13, you would've heard a lot of fucks from me, that's for sure. You only get one and they gave it to this young lady (referring to Mila). I was fuckin' pissed, believe me. I said shit every chance I got. No, again, we were trying to make a movie that was entertaining and driven by emotion so the F bomb really, I think all that stuff would have kind of diluted it anyway. Too much of it just kind of makes it into something else, but yeah, there were little tricks that we had to do like you see very little blood from the gunshots and stuff like that. So yeah, but good eye, good eye. I see what you're looking for in the film. [laughter]
 
MoviesOnline: Was there a mishap between Mark and Mila on the set?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: With this wild one here? She's just swinging that fuckin' thing like a mad person. I told her, you know, you're not supposed to hit.
 
MILA KUNIS: I'm a method actress. So I took my job very seriously. I insisted on practicing a lot. What mishap?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: I thought I was a pretty sympathetic guy. Chris wants to pull guns out on me, she wants to hit me, Beau liked me but then again he turned into a wild person at the end. They're making fun of me on Saturday Night Live. What's going on here? I'm a father now, I got three kids. Come on, give me a break.
 
MoviesOnline: What was your reaction to the SNL skit?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: You know what? It's flattering. It wasn't obviously as funny as the Tina Fey-Sarah Palin thing so I don't know. Maybe it's a little jab because I've refused to do the show so many times but I don't know. Yeah, it was funny. "Say hi to your mother for me" is my new catch phrase even though I never really said that before but I'll take it and run with it. No, it was not as funny as Hot Rod the movie but a kid's gotta do what he's gotta do to make a living. I ain't knockin' it. It's all good.
 
MoviesOnline: Was it harder to go to that dark place since you have your own family?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Definitely. I'm not one of those Shakespearean actors that thinks about the color blue or goes to that place, or thinks about that place when I wanted to hide and be alone as a kid. I have my past which has got a lot of stuff to draw from and I have children so I think about something horrible happening to my family. That's why I can't wait until the last day of shooting so I can go home and hug my kids and get those thoughts out of my head.
 
MoviesOnline: How hard was it to come into The Lovely Bones at the last minute?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: The last minute was fine. The only thing again I was worried about was dealing with the subject matter and having to go to that place, which is also why Max Payne was such a great release afterwards because the other side of me would want to go out and wreak havoc on whoever was responsible and I got to do that through this film. But the experience working with Peter Jackson was like no other. I've always wanted to direct. I thought after working with many of the great directors, that I picked up a lot of things along the way. Like a lot of actors, you get a great script, you hire a great cinematographer and producer, you get great actors, you can make a pretty good movie but I don't think you can do what Peter Jackson can do and I would like to be able to at least shoot for that level of ability one day. I don't think I'll ever get there but it was the most amazing experience of my career.

MoviesOnline: What impressed you in particular about Peter Jackson?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Oh man, everything about the guy. The guy's the greatest living director. It's amazing. The film is out of this world.
 
MoviesOnline: What did it require you to do to stretch?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Oh god, to try to make comedic moments out of a tragic situation, but it was an amazing experience.
 
MoviesOnline: Back to Max Payne, was it fun on set or did you stay in that dark place?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Did it look fun? It was not, no.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: It was cold.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Bone cold, yeah.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: Yeah, it was a raging snow storm when we first started there in Toronto so but that was great and I'm sure that's one of the reasons they chose that place. The snow storm is a big character in the game and it is in the movie. Then afterwards we had to recreate that snow. So then it was a different problem. We had these big slow moving flakes.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Wax, yeah.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: That would sit in your hair and people would have to come up and - -
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Swallow it.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: But the guys in the crew, the ladies and men in the crew, they were the ones that had the toughest go because we would be able to go in these little huts and they'd have some heaters in there but even so, I'd come out and, you know, if I had a long spiel or something, I could hardly get my jaw to move in the cold to say the words.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: And John also, right before we started shooting, if a big storm was coming in, he'd call the crew up in the middle of the night and say, "Let's go, get the cameras." You know, we'd go out there and shoot some additional footage. They definitely were thrilled that they had those kinds of conditions.
 
MoviesOnline: Chris, did you have conversations with Mark about Samuel L. Jackson's comments about rappers moving to acting and taking jobs from real actors? Did you mention him in your song to get back at him?
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: I mean, nobody ever, like actors, I only hear about it through other people. No one has ever said anything to my face.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Sam was mad for a little while. I think he's come around now. Sam lives right around the corner from me. Sam is mad at the supermarket when I see him. People come up to him and they're like, "Mr. Jackson." "Nah, nah."
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: I actually just had a party at Comic Con and he came through there, so when I said that in that verse, it was kind of just poking fun. That's all it was. It was a play off words but at the end of the day, like he said about the actors and them griping about some rappers taking their jobs, I hear about it through other people but no one's ever said anything directly to me.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Well, the thing is, certainly when I started, it was an extremely difficult thing to become a respected actor and not many musicians had done it. But if you look at Chris's approach, it's not like okay, I'm kinda coming in and out, taking a couple of paychecks and not really respecting the art form and trying to grow as an actor and trying to be taken seriously. We've talked a lot. We have a lot in common. He's asked me advice. He's not too cool to say, "Hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about that?" I think he's going to have a long, lengthy career but before me and Will Smith, there weren't many people who had done it successfully. So, you know, if you got a bunch of guys just coming in, taking roles from great actors, a guy like Sam Jackson who's one of the finest actors in the business and didn't really get his break until late in life, so I can understand where he's coming from but you have to talk about the individuals that are doing it. And Chris is a guy who has much respect for the art form and has continued to try - - I told him, it's a marathon, it's not a sprint. And he's really choosing roles to continue to grow as an actor, work with people that he can learn from and become better.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: The check is in the mail.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: The next Will Smith, baby.
 
MoviesOnline: Mila, was there any room for levity in this?
 
MILA KUNIS: Oh, what were you going to say?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Nothing. No, she is very funny.
 
MILA KUNIS: Mark doesn't think I'm very funny.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: She's mean.
 
MILA KUNIS: See? See, that's funny. No, you know, no, Mona Sax wasn't very funny but coming off of Sarah Marshall, I got to laugh by myself in my hotel room plenty. No, I'm kidding. It was fine. It was different but it was fine. Yeah, I liked it, but it was very different.
 
MoviesOnline: Do you have to turn it off?
 
MILA KUNIS: Around him, yeah. Absolutely.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: She never stopped, she never stopped.
 
MILA KUNIS: I stopped. I stopped after like two weeks. I was like, "Eh, fuck this, I won't be funny." See, they laugh. It's amazing what happens. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm totally kidding. I have this odd tendency to be really sarcastic when I'm uncomfortable and I don't really know why but it just comes out and it's come out since I was a child and Mark makes me incredibly uncomfortable so thus I do dumb shit in front of him and made dumb comments. And then halfway through he just looks at me and goes, "What?" And then I was like, "Aw, fuck."
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Well, you'll be standing there and she'll come up and kick you from behind. She's like, "Oh, that was really funny. Ha ha ha ha ha ha." I'm like, why was that - -
 
MILA KUNIS: That was different. No, no, that was different.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Yeah, she cracks herself up. That's for sure.
 
MILA KUNIS: I do. I make myself laugh all the time. I think I'm really funny. I do.
 
MoviesOnline: What was the biggest challenge of the role?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Well, the biggest challenge for me was going to that emotional place and having to imagine something horrible happening to my family. And then the biggest physical challenge was keeping up the mystery and the façade that I'm actually tough and cool and that I can go and do all this action stuff and it doesn't hurt and I'm not scared because I'm not the thrill seeker that I used to be. Having three children, I told Chris, you know, he says, "Oh, I gotta get this new motorcycle." I said, "No, I gave my motorcycle away. No more jumping out of planes or off of buildings or any of that stuff." I said in between movies, I tell them to wrap me up in cellophane so nothing happens, because I want to be able to play with my kids. I've been very fortunate, very lucky. I've a bunch of close calls but a movie like this, you want to get in there and make it as realistic as possible but anything too dangerous, I got a few guys that look exactly like me. Even when I'm driving down the street, if I see somebody who looks like me, I ask them if they're willing to jump out a window or get hit by a car. No faster than 35 miles an hour of course but yeah.
 
MoviesOnline: What is the best advice you were ever given?  
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Treat people the way you'd like to be treated. Humble yourself and glorify God, that's another good one.
 
MoviesOnline: There was a sequel to the game. Would you do another movie?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: If I don't, Chris will. We already talked about that but my whole thing is if we can make it better than the first, and my other thing is I really love when this character takes that little blue drug, so if we could have him crazy the whole time then that'd be another thing that would appeal to me. You guys? We've gotta do a Mona Sax spinoff, that's for sure.
 
MILA KUNIS: Yeah, I agree with Mark.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Did you sign your life away in your contract for four sequels?
 
MILA KUNIS: I did. My soul is now given to 20th Century Fox. No, I would absolutely do it. I liked working on this. I enjoyed working with Mark. If there were to be - -
 
MARK WAHLBERG: For real?
 
MILA KUNIS: For real. For real.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Aw.
 
MILA KUNIS: You're welcome.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Thank you.
 
MILA KUNIS: But if there were to be a sequel, I'd like to have a scene with somebody else other than Mark. That would be nice too.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: See?
 
MILA KUNIS: See, but that's funny. They kinda chuckled. Ugh.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: 'Cause they don't wanna make you feel bad. You're trying so hard.
 
MILA KUNIS: No, but seriously, I would wanna work with Beau because you and I never got to do anything except hang out on set.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: It'd have to be a prequel.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Do the prequel and Beau and you can have a love child. Beau would like that part.
 
MILA KUNIS: Maybe I am the love child.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: Ooh, there you go. Nice, call John Moore immediately.
 
MILA KUNIS: See, it can happen. And Chris and I met two days ago.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Exactly and I mean, being a black man that didn't die in the first one, I definitely would be looking forward to the sequel, thank you. Thank you, yes, very much. I take pride.
 
MoviesOnline: Mark, you mentioned retiring at 40?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: I said a lotta dumb shit in my career. I've said a lotta dumb things. You know what? I have a family so I don't want to, I've been focusing on me and my career for quite some time and they are definitely the priority now, so if I can find a nice balance to work here and there on things that I'm very passionate about, but still be around to take my kids to school and pick them up after and drag them to the golf course with me, then I'd like to do that. But I can't be working at the pace that I am for much longer, but maybe 45 now. We'll see.
 
MoviesOnline: Are you thinking about getting married?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Yeah, we're talking about getting married in August, yeah.
 
MoviesOnline: Congratulations.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Thank you. August. It's a good month.
 
MILA KUNIS: I think so.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: We're not inviting yet.
 
MILA KUNIS: Well, why don't you do it on August 14th?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: What's that, your birthday?
 
MILA KUNIS: My birthday.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Oh, cool.
 
MILA KUNIS: That way, we can have a dual wedding/birthday party. You pay for it, I'll totally come.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Okay.
 
MILA KUNIS: I think it's so good. Come on, Mark.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: We'll think about that. That's a good date.
 
MILA KUNIS: I'll babysit.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: See, I don't trust you around my kids.
 
MILA KUNIS: What? I love your kids, they're great.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Not a chance.
 
MILA KUNIS: Next question.

MoviesOnline: How is fatherhood treating you this time around?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: It's the best, it's awesome. Not as much sleep, but you know.
 
MoviesOnline: Is it different with the third?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Oh yeah. We're out numbered now. So.
 
MoviesOnline: They control the house?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Well, I don't want to let them know that, but yeah, to an extent.

MoviesOnline: Mila, you were commenting on the wardrobe, but the 14-year-old boys will love it.
 
MILA KUNIS: Oh, good.
 
MoviesOnline: Getting into this boys club, do you have to out-macho them?
 
MILA KUNIS: I don't need to try to out-macho them. I mean, look at right here. Who's machoer? Me. I am very tough, as Mark will tell you. Yes, of course. I am so not a tough person. Yeah, it's a little hard but I'm used to, from '70s, being around so many boys all the time. I'm used to a different relationship. I'm just more used to being picked on and being like ha ha and just more funny versus trying to kick ass and pretend like I'm really tough and know what I'm doing. Like I never had to do that in life. And this was definitely the first time ever where I was like okay, this is very strange and very unknown territory to me but I liked it because it was such a challenge but I did, I liked it a lot. I hated the clothes so much. What made me feel empowered was the gun, not the clothes. Like if I had the gun, it didn't matter what your size was, what your stature was. As long as I was holding the weapon, I win, so that was really great. But the heels sucked. Oh my God, it was awful. And like five inches of snow in five inch heels, you can't look sexy and you can't look like you know what you're doing because you're falling and I'm klutzy. It's bad.
 
MoviesOnline: Are there games you like to play?
 
MILA KUNIS: Golf [for Mark]
 
MARK WAHLBERG: I got Sega '92 and '93 hockey when they still had the fighting. Guys would fall down and blood would spill out of their head.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: I'm big on Pong.
 
MILA KUNIS: I like World of Warcraft but that's not a video game.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: She's a geeky gamer for sure. She knew everything about Comic Con.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Yeah, you did. I still got like Street Fighter and NBA Jam at my house.
 
MILA KUNIS: Do you play Soul Caliber?
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Mm mm.
 
MILA KUNIS: If you like Street Fighter, you'd like Soul Caliber.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Yeah, the actual arcade game.
 
MoviesOnline: Were any of you familiar with Max Payne before you signed on?
 
MILA KUNIS: I was.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Yes, yes.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: I found out about the game after reading the script.
 
MoviesOnline: Chris, what can you tell us about the record?
 
MILA KUNIS: November 25th it comes out.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Theater of the Mind.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: They know it. They can tell you everything.
 
MILA KUNIS: T.I.'s on it, Game's on it, Lil' Wayne guest stars on it.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Costars.
 
MILA KUNIS: Costars, costars, my bad.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: See. Yeah, they pretty much got us hooked up but November 25th is album number six for me, Theater of the Mind, concept type record. My experience of doing the movies, I kind of took that experience and put it towards the album so when I say every song is a movie, like she said I have costars on it instead of features. A lotta storytelling songs and basically where you have to use your imagination, like if I provide you the audio on this album, the rest is up to the theater of your mind.
 
MoviesOnline: How about using your imagination on a film set, like Game?
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Yeah, that's going to be interesting. He's referring to a movie called Game that comes out in '09 and basically Gerard Butler is the star of it and it's crazy because it's set in the future. It's a futuristic action film and Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine who wrote and directed Crank with Jason Statham, they actually did this movie. And I'm a part of it and basically it's kind of reminiscent of The Running Man a little bit but only set in the future where you have convicts that are being played as actual video games. So if you can imagine how interactive games are today, imagine in the future that there'll be people playing other people as actual video games and that's what that movie's all about. So yeah, they're working on all of that stuff now. It's going to be interesting in 2009 to check that out.
 
MoviesOnline: Did you ad lib the Russian in the movie?
 
MILA KUNIS: Honestly, I don't really remember. I think it was probably written in the script, like "They speak Russian." And Olga and I were like, "Okay."
 
MoviesOnline: What did you say?
 
MILA KUNIS: Well, no, no, so we showed up to set and we just kind of, I mean if I'm not mistaken, it might have been John wrote something the day before, was kind of like, "Get over here, come home." It was very simple dialogue. And then Olga and I just translated it.
 
MoviesOnline: What character have you played that would make a good Halloween costume?
 
BEAU BRIDGES: Richard Nixon. I played him one time. He was pretty spooky.
 
MoviesOnline: Dirk Diggler?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Yeah.
 
MoviesOnline: Have you ever seen a Dirk Diggler costume?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Yes, I have. I was at the Eagles game last week and this guy had an Eagles shirt that said Dirk Diggler on the back.
 
MoviesOnline: How was it working with John Moore?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: John's phenomenal. I don't know why he's not here today. Oh, he's out with laryngitis?
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: I know why he doesn't have a voice because when we were on set, he's so passionate about the takes that he would either yell at the top of his lungs when he did something right, and when something went wrong, you would hear another kind of yell basically. So that's how passionate he was. It's the first director I worked with who every time you got something right, you'd hear, "Yeah!" Like just completely, honestly speaking.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: “That’s in the movie.”
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: So that's what it was like working with him, very passionate about every single thing but he's really good, very strategic.
 
MoviesOnline: Were you apprehensive about the stigma of video game movies?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: It wasn't really brought to my attention how many movies had actually been adapted from games. When I read the script, a bit of a red flag popped up only because I grew up playing Atari and Pacman and Asteroids and there's not much of a story there. But seeing this game and realizing how elaborate the story is and how cinematic it is and how much games have changed, I don't care where the stories come from as long as they're interesting and there's fresh ways to tell them. There's only so many stories to tell anyway but obviously knowing how important this game is for a lot of the die hard game fans, we obviously wanted to satisfy them and then hopefully introduce a bunch of other people through the movie to the game.
 
MoviesOnline: What's next for everybody?
 
MILA KUNIS: I just wrapped on Friday a thing called Extract. It's Mike Judge's next movie. It's in the vein of Office Space. It's Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, myself, Kristin Wiig, J.K. Simmons. It's really, really funny. Takes place in an extract factory but very, very funny.
 
BEAU BRIDGES: I'm doing a new series for ABC that we'll start shooting in a couple of weeks. It'll be out probably January, February. I play Alyssa Milano's somewhat dysfunctional father.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Slash lover?
 
BEAU BRIDGES: I'll talk to her about that. It's called Single with Parents. Annie Potts is my crazy exotic ex-wife. Should be fun.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Chris, Theater of the Mind, November 25th.
 
MILA KUNIS: Game, 2009.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Yeah, see, they already know and then RocknRolla which is out in LA and New York now and comes out the rest of the country on October 31st. That's Guy Ritchie wrote and directed. So those three projects pretty much for me.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Lovely Bones coming out next year and trying to figure out what I'm going to do next.
 
MoviesOnline: Were you a fan of Chris's music before you met him?
 
MILA KUNIS: Yes, yes, and let me just tell you, I was tested already.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: She passed the test.
 
MILA KUNIS: And I passed it and I didn't think the test was very fun. It was not, it made me very uncomfortable. I didn't know it was going to happen. It was for what, like E News or one of them shows, was like, "This is gonna be really funny. Let's test your knowledge of Chris." I was like oh my god.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: She got every question right so yes, she must be.
 
MILA KUNIS: So yes, I was a fan.
 
MoviesOnline: Did you get to hear the new album?
 
MILA KUNIS: No, but he gave me a rap name. Like within two hours, I had a whole new rap name. What's my rap name?
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: Less than like two minutes.
 
MILA KUNIS: Yeah, what, go ahead.
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: It's MK1. Mila Kunis One.
 
MoviesOnline: What about trying to get Mark back into music?
 
CHRIS BRIDGES: I've had that discussion with him and it was the one and only discussion. He is not, that's, it's just not happening and don't bring that up anymore in this room. It's a wrap, completely.
 
 MoviesOnline: Mark, have you seen the New Kids new concert?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: I haven't, no.
 
MoviesOnline: Will you go?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: I'm going to try, yeah. He asked me to come to the one in LA but I was coming back to Dallas .
 
MoviesOnline: It's incredible.
 
MARK WAHLBERG: I heard. A couple of my friends who were reluctant to go in Boston said that they were pretty damn good.
  
MoviesOnline: Are you still training for The Fighter?
 
MARK WAHLBERG: Oh yeah, every day. Well, five days a week.

“Max Payne” opens in theaters on October 17th.