Justin Bieber doesn’t have acting experience but he does have “it,” according to Wahlberg. (Getty Images)
Mark Wahlberg, once known as teen hip hop heartthrob Marky Mark, must see a lot of himself in Justin Bieber. He is banking on the fact that Bieber will similarly be able to make the transition to esteemed actor, and thus cast the “Under the Mistletoe” singer to star opposite himself in the still-unnamed basketball film that begins filming over the summer.
While the film’s plot is hush-hush, Wahlberg has revealed that the two main characters in the movie are an “old guy,” played by himself, and a “young guy,” played by Bieber. And Wahlberg says he didn’t need to see an elaborate screen test to know that Bieber was perfect to play the younger guy.
“Intuition. I’m pretty intuitive,” Wahlberg said, when MTV News asked why he settled so certainly on Bieber, who doesn’t have much acting experience. “I see the guy and spent time with him, and you see what he does and how he does it, and then you actually have a conversation with him, and it’s there. And if not, I will extract it.”
The fact that Wahlberg’s daughter Ella is a big fan probably didn’t hurt either.
Earlier this year, Wahlberg revealed that when the basketball project was first brought to him, he’d assumed that he would be playing the younger character.
“So I get this call from Paramount [with a story about] an old guy and a young guy,” Wahlberg told MTV. “I’m like, ‘Cool, let’s get Jack [Nicholson]. Let’s get Robert De Niro. Let’s get Robert Duvall.’ And they go, ‘What about Garrett Hedlund?’ I’m like, ‘For what?’ They’re like, ‘For the young guy.'”
But Wahlberg feels comfortable with choosing Bieber over Hedlund, who starred in “Country Strong.”
“Wait till you see me and Bieber in the flick,” he said. “Think of, like, ‘The Color of Money.'”