Mark Wahlberg was absent from the cinematic realm in 2019, but for 2020, he’s back in full force, with his first movie of the year being Netflix’s Spenser Confidential. Loosely based on the novel Wonderland by Ace Atkins, Spenser Confidential sees Wahlberg playing the Robert B. Parker-created character Detective Spenser, who doesn’t waste anytime jumping back into action upon getting out of prison.
This includes a scene where Spenser is attacked by a dog, and as Mark Wahlberg told CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg during the Spenser Confidential junket, the experience of shooting that wasn’t particularly pleasant, as you’ll hear in the video below.
Spenser Confidential marks Mark Wahlberg’s fifth time working with director Peter Berg, with the two of them previously collaborating on Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day and Mile 22. So Wahlberg felt comfortable expressing concerns to Berg about shooting this Spenser Confidential scene with a real dog, which the actor called “vicious” and a “trained killer.”
Mark Wahlberg clarified that for the close-ups, an animatronic head was used, but he was nonetheless “dinged up pretty good” while this dog was attacking him for Spenser Confidential. But it wasn’t just the dog attack that was rough on Wahlberg, as he noted how he gets beat up “every 10 minutes” in the Netflix feature, which he suspects the rest of the cast and crew was secretly enjoying. Actually, Peter Berg has been very forthcoming about how he enjoys that.
That being said, Mark Wahlberg also acknowledged that Spenser being put through the ringer is good for the audience, as it makes him more relatable and emphasizes how he won’t give up in fighting injustice and accomplishing the mission. Still, I suspect that Wahlberg would have been perfectly okay if the making of Spenser Confidential hadn’t involved a dog roughhousing him, but hey, sometimes you gotta take one for the team.
After being framed while investigating a conspiracy involving dirty cops, drug cartels and big politicians, Spenser Confidential sees Mark Wahlberg’s Spenser being freed from prison after five years and immediately resuming his efforts to blow this criminal enterprise wide open. Wahlberg is joined by Winston Duke, Alan Arkin, Iliza Schlesinger, Bokeem Woodbine, Marc Maron, Post Malone and many more.
While Spenser Confidential is the only action movie Mark Wahlberg has lined up for 2020, this year is definitely one of his busier ones. This May, you can hear him voicing Blue Falcon in Scoob!, and he’s also set to appear as Evan McCauley in Infinite and Joe Bell in Good Joe Bell months later.
Spenser Confidential hits Netflix this Friday, March 6. If you’re curious about what movies are hitting the big screen soon, look through our 2020 release schedule.
