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Friday, May 30, 2003

By Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Mark Wahlberg is calling from the Park Avenue hotel that gave birth to the "power breakfast" but he sounds queasy. Or spent.

The actor says he has food poisoning but the promotional process must go on. Wahlberg is advancing his latest movie, "The Italian Job," a heist caper that turns into a revenge thriller when one among the gang gets greedy. Directed by F. Gary Gray, it also stars Edward Norton, Charlize Theron, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def and Donald Sutherland.

It's a remake of the 1969 movie, "The Italian Job," featuring Michael Caine, Noel Coward and Benny Hill. Like Caine, Wahlberg plays mastermind thief Charlie Croker, who orchestrates the theft of $35 million in gold from a seemingly impregnable palazzo in Venice, Italy, and then watches one of his crew prove there is no honor among thieves. Charlie has to figure out a way to steal the loot back from the turncoat.

The movie has a couple of the wildest chase scenes this side of "Bullitt," with Mini Coopers bouncing onto sidewalks, clattering down steps, rocketing through tunnels and squeezing into spaces usually occupied by pedestrians.

Asked how often he was actually behind the wheel of the British import, Wahlberg says, "I did whatever Gary asked of me, which was a lot, actually. He really wanted to make it seem like it was us in there, and he also wasn't looking for the three or four generic reactions that most people throw out there. ... But I don't like it and I don't like driving with Charlize. She's a psycho."

Told that the stunt coordinator had singled out Theron's driving prowess in a recent story in the Los Angeles Times, Wahlberg sniffs, "Good for her."

She, Wahlberg, Statham and Mos Def went through driver's training before principal photography started, learning how to control the cars at high speeds and master controlled slides, 360s, 180s and reverse 180s, the producer has said. So, whenever you see Croker behind the wheel, that's Wahlberg about 98 percent of the time.

"I already had a driver's license. I grew up flying around in stolen cars, so they just wanted to make sure we were capable of maneuvering them the way they wanted us to, and we were going to be safe." In real life, he drives a Cadillac SUV although he acknowledges, "All my friends are making me feel guilty" and pushing him to buy a hybrid car.

Like many Americans, Wahlberg counts heist movies among his all-time favorites. "I just watched 'The Thief' the other day with Jimmy Caan. Fantastic. ... I really love the original 'Italian Job.' I hadn't seen it until after I signed on to this. But what a little gem."

Asked how his Charlie Croker compares to Caine's, he says, "It is different. I attempted to play a kind of likable and charming thief, and Michael Caine does that so effortlessly."

It had been the director's take on the remake that got Wahlberg to sign on, the first big name attached to the project. "It wasn't going to be some big CGI mess, which made me very happy."

CGI is shorthand for computer-generated imagery, which often requires actors to stand in front of a blank screen where a monster wall of water or other effect will be inserted.

A year ago, Wahlberg starred in a remake of "Planet of the Apes." Then he appeared in "The Truth About Charlie," which director Jonathan Demme called "the loving stepchild" of "Charade" with Cary Grant. "Italian Job" is his third remake.

This triple-take play is "just by coincidence," he says. "I really just wanted an opportunity to work with this filmmaker," whose credits include "A Man Apart," "The Negotiator," "Set It Off" and the first "Friday."

Although "Italian Job" took Wahlberg to Venice and the Italian Alps, much of the movie was filmed in Los Angeles. "It was the first time I felt like I was really in Hollywood, making a Hollywood movie. All the other movies I made were either tucked away on a soundstage or in some miserable location -- unless you're in Paris, which is quite nice."

"Italian Job" arrives during a summer with a record number of sequels, prequels and remakes. "I don't really worry about that sort of thing. It's a movie that I like a lot, and I'm just trying to do my best to support the film," Wahlberg says. "As far as where it fits in, I don't know, we'll find out soon."

Wahlberg, who will turn 32 on Thursday and whose girlfriend Rhea Durham is expecting their first child, doesn't have anything on his must-see summer list. "I watch my DVDs at home. There isn't anything I'm like, wow, I need to see this summer. The winter was good with 'About Schmidt' and "Adaptation,' but I have nothing that I'm like, God, I gotta see."

Of course he can always request a copy to watch in the privacy of his home in L.A., where he starts shooting "I Love Huckabee's," which will reunite him with "Three Kings" director David O. Russell.

The oddly titled movie is an ensemble comedy centering around a married couple. Wahlberg calls his character a working-class intellectual, a fireman who is dead set against the use of petroleum and petroleum products, which means he rides his bicycle behind the fire truck. "Thank God, we live in a very small town."