An Interview with Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese, André Benjamin and Garrett Hedlund

A few days ago I had the opportunity to talk to the cast, Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund about their upcoming revenge flick Four Brothers. The all play the Mercer brothers, who are out to seek revenge after their adoptive mother who is murdered during a grocery store. Hotheaded Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), hard-edged Angel (Tyrese Gibson), family man and businessman Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin), and hard rocking Jack (Garrett Hedlund) – reunite to take the matter of her death into their own hands as they track down the killer. Below is what they had to say to us:

How did you get this brotherly bond going in such a short period?

Benjamin: I can say that it was a blessing, because I'm an only child, and so you know, going to a movie called 'Four Brothers,' you know, you show up on set, and we didn't have time to rehearse, usually you have weeks to rehearse with the cast, and so we had a week and then we pretty much just did hockey, hockey practice. So a lot of bonding came from playing hockey and going out at night, but it was natural, you know, everybody's personality was cool, no egos, we laughed, and joked, and I mean, we got so comfortable, you know, we could talk about each other. Even like racial jokes, because we knew about it – you know how it was, black white black white, brother type thing, so it was cool.
Tyrese: Honestly, it wasn't planned, it wasn't a transition from playing hockey to the dinner, it was just – it was good energy, when you're in Canada, it's cold as hell, your body itself, you just kind of get around people with good energy, and it's nothing you can really force, it's nothing that's contrived, it's a natural flow. You ever get around all four of us at the same time, you'll see, you will feel like that's some brotherly love, we're not brothers, it's love.
Wahlberg: You gotta sing that song, man.
Tyrese: Yeah, whatever.
Wahlberg: You guys gotta get him to sing, he wrote a song about having sex with Sofia [Vergara] on the washing machine.

Did you know about this?

Wahlberg: Oh yeah, he sang it yesterday!
Tyrese: No man, I don't want to do no singing man, please.
Wahlberg: And all personal questions should be directed to Tyrese. He has a much more exciting personal life. Sex life is crazy, he's twenty-five, he's a fire cracker. [Laughs]

Is this what happens instantly, this rapport?

Wahlberg: The whole movie, yeah, it was non-stop. It was remarkable that we actually got to shoot some stuff, and still be able to tell the story. Of these guys trying to avenge their mother's death, as opposed to trying to one up each other.
Tyrese: Yeah, it was stupid on the set, you know, but that's what it is, that's what it's supposed to be, you know, you get around four guys, and they gotta be around each other freezing like hell out there in Canada, you gotta have some kind of good energy going to get through it, and get past all of the reality of that. So it worked out perfect.
Wahlberg: There were never any compliments being passed around, that's for sure.

What were some of the nicknames you had on set?

Benjamin: We always got on [Hedlund] his hair size. Because he had this hairdo, you know, he'd come out of the trailer in the morning, with this big bouffant, type thing. So we always got him about that, they got on my clothes, they said it was too tight. Actually the line, the line in the movie, (Big Teeth) that was made up. After that day, I just knew, I said well Tyrese, you know, for the rest of my life, people are gonna talk about my teeth because of that line.
Wahlberg: Oh non-stop. I hadn't seen these guys for a couple months, we get to the ESPY's, and I just get out of the car, I'm happy to see them, the first thing they're talking about my shoes, my hair, my jacket.
Tyrese: I'm still trying to find out where you get a hat that size.
Wahlberg: Listen, I was so happy that Garrett [Hedlund] was cast in the movie, because I finally found someone who's head is actually bigger than mine. So I had all these head jokes that were used on me, and I was just whoa, I was using the words. They thought I should be stand up and shit because I had so many jokes, but these were, you know, I used to be the butt end of them. But I think since then he's had head reduction surgery or something, because – or he did something with his hair, or his face shrunk or something, because his head is not big.

That day when you were freezing your ass off, describe that day just briefly and then contrast that with feeling welcome or not in the city during the making of this movie.

Hedlund: All the scenes that were sort of shot towards the beginning were horrendous, because it was January in Canada. I was from Minnesota, so I was a little more adapted to that sort of weather, you know, more than these guys, but blood thinned out as well, and it got fucking cold up there.
Benjamin: And I called my wife, it was actually – it was scenes, like the scene on like the white area, where you didn't see any land. We were shooting on top of a lake, it's frozen, so it's kind of like a human standing on a big block of ice. And there were no trees to stop the wind, and it was just so cold, that my mouth would freeze up, and I'd have to warm it up so I could say my lines. It was so – I have never been that cold in my life.

What was it like learning how to ice skate?

Tyrese: I already knew how to roller blade, because I used to skate in school when I was broke as hell and couldn't afford the Dash bus, twenty five cents, so when I couldn't find a quarter to get to school, I'd always pull them blades out to get there. In line skating you just had to go from the blades to the ice, so I was out there doing my thing.

Garrett you arrived in L.A. and immediately got cast, is that true, or did you struggle?

Hedlund: Well I mean, you know, prior to going out there, I sort of picked up the book and started studying, you know, reading anything I could to sort of just increase that ability to sort of analyze material and put myself in a character's shoes, with every novel, every series sort of, you know, I'd see myself as that person, so when it came time to read scripts, it was kind of – it came a little more natural. I sort of, when I was in Arizona, started reading scripts. Before I'd seen the movie, I don't know if the bio's says that I'd watch the movie and sort of then copy, but I mean, I'd read the scripts to the movies that I haven't seen, and sort of take my take on the character and sort of pretend that I was gonna go in, movies like 'Five Easy Pieces,' and things with great actors when they were still young, and the movies that started them off, and then after that I would read from them, and then I'd watch the movie and see sort of what they did, but the whole thing with that sort of study was just to show myself that there were no rules, and that I could actually follow my instincts and train my instincts to sort of, you know, be about to go.

Did you create this back story for yourself, your character, to explain who you'd become?

Hedlund: Yeah, you do, you write a complete back story, which will just help you answer any questions that aren't, you know, answered in the script. Anything that's not in the script is there in your mind, so therefore writing back story definitely helps you out. I remembered when I first started, even going in on auditions, I would write fifteen pages of back story on the character, from the beginning, from starting in this life, so like what his fears are and just sort of about him, I almost wrote it like a short story about this character, and sort of, you know, even if it wasn't sort of almost the same as what's on the page, but it's already then for becoming a character in my mind.

André you're still new to this, what's the allure for a recording artist to go into acting? Is it a natural progression from videos?

Benjamin: No, because videos and films are totally different. Because you're hiding behind music, you know. And you pretty much just lip sync. And in film, you know, they yell action, and it's as quiet as it is in here, and you have to believe it, you know, you have to go in to it.

André you're the voice of reason, was it hard to be dramatic when you're really so cool?

Benjamin: Um, no, no that was, I think humans, you look for any chance you can to do stuff like that, you know. By that time, like, the character, you know, but I think you have to know – and I don't know if they showed it that much in the film, but growing up, we all were knuckleheads, we all did the street thing, so we were all in the same boat, but I guess they moved out of town, I stayed in Detroit. Like once you have a wife and two kids, two girls, you kind of have to slow it down. And I think I was the only voice of reason or the more responsible one because of that, I had more to lose than any other of my brothers. But at the same time, I still had pride, there were certain scenes cut out of the movie, like I think, like me and Tyrese were sitting at the table, me and Angel, I'm sorry, were sitting at the table, and I think he's testing me, you know, because they come back into town, I have a house, and a family, so they're trying to play like I've softened up, you know, and I kind of snap on him at the table, but I think they took it out.

What do you guys get from working with John Singleton?

Benjamin: To always iron your clothes before you go outside. [laughs] It was a joke on the set, we called him John Wrinkleton. Because he always came wrinkled. No, but you know, [laughs] – he, I think the intensity, I had a conversation with him, I said like what's the difference between these two directors and those two directors, and he always said I'm an old school director. The people I study, they give the emotion out of the movie, he said, if I feel like I can make you feel something, I mean, visually, that's cool, you know, if it looks good that's cool. But if I feel like I can make you laugh, if I can make you cry, if I can make you sad, you know, if I can make you like overjoyed and happy, then I feel like I'm doing my job, so he looks for the emotion in it.
Hedlund: I came off with one good line from John [Singleton], and that was if you're gonna steal, steal from the best. And that's – I think that was one of the best lines I'd hear him say.
Tyrese: I'm honored man, John Singleton could call me with anything, because I know he's only gonna call me with the right stuff, and I guess my biggest honor, which doesn't happen too often, when you have somebody who's seen more of you than you've seen yourself, for him to talk me into making that transition, I'll never forget, he came to my house, living in Hawthorne, showed up at my house, he was telling me all about 'Baby Boy,' and I was like, I can relate to the story, but I still wasn't interested in acting. And he started reading the script to me, just trying to force me to do it, but then he was like ‘man fuck this, read this script man!’ [laughs] And then I was just like what do I have to do, you know? Guy comes over here snapping on me. So that was it man, but it's like the outcome of 'Baby Boy' and the other two films we did together, this one and '2 Fast,' it's just like damn man, I can't even believe that I'm doing it, can't believe that he's seen that much in me and believed in me to put me in these big positions, I mean, I'm number one on the call sheet for 'Baby Boy,' first time I ever acted, that's a big, big step man, especially since Tupac was supposed to play the role. So I love John, he can call me with anything, and I'll be on board, no problem.
Wahlberg: And John must love him too, because he made so much fun of John. I mean, he called John, John Wrinkleton because his clothes were wrinkled. He makes fun of John non-stop, all day, you know. John and I have been friends for a long time, we've always talked about doing something, and here was something that was just perfect for both of us, so, it made perfect sense. And it was great to be able to work with somebody that you can kind of communicate with and collaborate with and trust. We had our eyes on the prize, it was like, let's not water this thing down at all, let's not add the girlfriend for you, let's really push the envelope, and hopefully the chemistry will make you guys likeable enough that the audience will go on the ride with you.

What was the appeal of doing this film?

Wahlberg: Everything was appealing to me, as far as the material. John [Singleton] hadn't signed on to direct yet, but I'd been looking for something that I would actually want to go and see, and this is a throwback to all the great anti-hero, character driven movies that I've been raised on, so it was ideal for me.

Do you identify with the anti-hero persona?

Wahlberg: Uh, certainly more than I identify with the guy who's better looking than the girl he's starring opposite. You know, I grew up watching [James] Cagney and [Steve] McQueen, and real guys' guys. So yeah, those are, you know, [Robert] DeNiro in 'Taxi Driver,' or even a revenge movie like 'Death Wish' with Charles Bronson, those are guys that – they're guys' guys, definitely.

Mark, Singleton relates your path to this character, and thinks it's important for you to use more of that in your work.

Wahlberg: Definitely, me too, me too. I think out of all the movies that I've made, those are the kind of movies that people still talk about most. And I certainly want to make movies now, I figure I've done enough movies with directors who have accomplished certain things in their past, to not have to kind of make movies just because of the right director, even though I don't like the material.
Tyrese: I thought 'Planet of the Apes' was a much better performance. [Laughs]
Wahlberg: So if Tim Burton wants to take it to the street, then we can make another movie.

How much of your background have you suppressed in order to do the kind of career you've had to date?

Wahlberg: Yeah, I mean, but it's always been in the reserve tank. You know, it's right there, to tap into. You know, I just, I have to contain it, because, like in this movie, you start kind of becoming the guy, and you know, the people that work with me or for me didn't appreciate it too much, because Bobby Mercer is givin' some tough love, do you know what I mean? Hard pressed like I said, the complements were being thrown around like manhole covers, there wasn't too many of them.

How long did it take you to shake that? As soon as you finished?

Wahlberg: Well then I jumped into 'The Departed,' which is an even more of an asshole, so it's like, you know. But surprisingly, at least there's a great twist to that movie too. You'll be surprised at it.

Speaking of The Departed you work with Leonardo DiCaprio again since The Basketball Diaries, how was the reunion?

Wahlberg: It was cool, I mean, we've worked together before, so. No, it was cool, it was cool working with Matt [Damon] and with Jack [Nicholson] and with Alec [Baldwin], and Martin Sheen, and [Martin] Scorsese. You know, I get to really push, you know, the level of asshole in that movie.

You had reservations about the bathroom scene, right Tyrese?

Wahlberg: He had a lot of reservations, man!

It flows well, very real. After seeing the final product, what were your thoughts?

Wahlberg: Still wasn't comfortable in it.
Tyrese: I don't know man, I like the film over all, but I'm saying I don't know about that one scene still. It's a little –

But it's the intimacy of brothers.

Wahlberg: Yeah, I grew up in a household with many people and one bathroom, you know. Nine kids and two parents.
Tyrese: I can understand, I can understand the concept. It's just certain things that you just kind of, as you get older, even though you come up in that environment with all these brothers, as you get older, there's just oh no, no, we gonna make, go ahead and do what you're doing, go on and do what you're doing, it kind of gets into that mold, to walk in and my brother's – I'm not trying to smell that for one, I'm not trying to look through no see through curtains to see my other brother over here doing whatever he's doing, I'm not gonna ask him to look down my pants and look at my john, you know, I will probably tell him about it, but I wouldn't like yo, what you think? That was a little much for me, but I mean, I got through it.