Mark Wahlberg seemed to slam Tom Cruise during a rant about spoiled Hollywood stars, after Cruise recently answered questions whether his intense work is akin to “someone fighting in Afghanistan.”
But Wahlberg – who stars as a Navy SEAL in the upcoming movie “Lone Survivor” – commented afterwards that he has “utmost respect” for the “Top Gun” actor.
Wahlberg fumed during a Q&A for his military movie at AFI Fest: “For actors to sit there and talk about, ‘Oh, I went to SEAL training,’ and I slept on the — I don’t give a [bleep] what you did. You don’t do what these guys did, you just don’t . . . For somebody to sit there and say, ‘My job was as difficult as somebody in the military’s.’ How [bleep]ing dare you? While you sit in a makeup chair for two hours.”
He then went off further, saying, “I don’t give a s - - t if you’re getting your ass busted. You get to go home at the end of the day. You get to go to your hotel room. You get to order [bleep]ing chicken . . . Bottle of Cabernet, or whatever the [bleep] it is.”
The actor’s comments seemed like they could be a dig at Cruise after it was reported Cruise was asked in a recent legal deposition whether his reps called his job, “analogous to someone fighting in Afghanistan,” and he responded, “I didn’t hear the Afghanistan, but that’s what it feels like, and certainly on this last movie, it was brutal.”
But a source close to Wahlberg’s Universal movie told us of his rant: “Mark was not bashing or responding to Tom Cruise at the Q&A. He was responding to a question about his training, and he said that he would not even begin to compare it to SEAL training or anything like what they go through.”
The source added, “Mark was honoring the real life [former SEAL] Marcus Luttrell, and the SEALS. He answered the same question weeks ago in the same way — before any of the Tom Cruise story was reported. Though he didn’t go to such an extreme.”
Wahlberg reportedly said after his Q&A comments, “I love Tom Cruise. He’s a great actor. I have the utmost respect for Tom Cruise, but I have the utmost respect for military guys… it’s just unfair for anybody to comment on that.”