Mark Wahlberg Opens Up About ‘Suffering’ Painful Injury While Filming New Movie

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - DECEMBER 13: Mark Wahlberg attends "The Family Plan" world premiere at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on December 13, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)

Mark Wahlberg is peeling back the curtain on some of the “suffering” he went through while on the set of his new movie, Arthur the King.

The movie is based on a true story about adventure racer Mikael Lindnord, who discovered a dog trailing his team during a 435-mile race and later wrote about the experience in his book Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home. Wahlberg, 52, portrays Lindnord in the film, which has a March 15 U.S. release date.

The Boogie Nights star, who is very open about his workout and dieting routines and is known to put time and effort into training for movie roles that require a certain physicality, was attending a fan screening of his newest project at AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles when he was asked about his training for the Lindnord role.

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The Patriots Day actor admitted to Entertainment Tonight that he “never knew anything about” adventure racing before learning the story behind Arthur the King. While he’d tackled physically demanding roles before, Wahlberg said this film was on another level.

Though Wahlberg said he was in training before he had to be on set, an incident during the first day of filming threw a wrench into his plans.

“Unfortunately, I tore my meniscus the first day, so all my training went out the window,” Wahlberg told ET. He added that it happened early on, as the crew was shooting the second scene of the day.

Wahlberg recalled that while he was encouraged to pause work on the film until his injury could heal, the movie was tough to get “off the ground” in the first place, and he was worried about the impact an injury-related delay would have on the production.

With that concern top of mind, Wahlberg said he “toughed it out,” with his training becoming “basically just about getting through it.”

“I got to understand the suffering a little bit more than I wanted to,” he said.

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