Mark Wahlberg Does Men’s Health, December 2010

One of the hottest movies of the season is “The Fighter,” starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale: both had to undergo a drastic physical makeover for their respective parts, which is also the topic of discussion in an interview with Men’s Health, the December 2010 issue.

As we also noted on a previous occasion, while Bale went on a crash diet to fit the part of a drug addict, Wahlberg trained for more than 3 years to play a believable boxer.

As such, his training – which was intense, by all means – interfered with schedule, in the sense that he had to work that into other parts as well. It was a real challenge, the actor tells the mag.

“It was tough. Going out and making another movie and still continuing to train for something that may not happen is not an easy thing to do,” Mark explains.

As fans must know, the reason why he trained for so many years is that the film was stuck in production limbo and he’d been told to make sure he was ready to shoot it at all times – which is precisely what he did.

“We’re shooting 12 to 14 hours a day on one movie and I’m getting up 2 hours earlier than normal so I can train,” Mark says of his workout schedule.

Still, he was determined to do his utmost to make a believable boxer: that was a promise he’d made himself. In the end, it was not in vain: Wahlberg may even land an Oscar for his part, critics believe.

“To look like Micky Ward inside the ring, outside the ring, and in the gym, I needed to do it right. We hired real boxers and really went in there and hit each other. I was in better shape than the fighters I was shooting with,” the actor says.

However, no matter how hard he trained and strived to turn himself into a real boxer (or the closest an actor can get to a real boxer), Mark says he couldn’t have done it without a little help from HBO as well.

“My goal was to make it the most realistic boxing in a movie. HBO allowed us to use their cameras and the guys who have shot all the HBO fights. We were able to make the best version of the movie, down and dirty and gritty and real,” the actor shares.

“The Fighter” is out in theaters since December 10, in limited release.