Ahead of its release in British cinemas later this month, Hollywood A-lister Mark Wahlberg spoke about the themes behind his new movie Patriots Day, a passion project that deals with the events and aftermath of the Boston bombings back in April 2013.
“Good will always overcome evil, you know? People will continue to do bad things but they cannot dictate how we live our lives. We need to be able to go to a marathon, we need to be able to go to a baseball game, to go to the movies – to live normal lives. We all need to be able to come together, and good always prevails over evil,” the 45 year old actor said.
Mark Wahlberg stars in ‘Patriots Day’
Wahlberg, who plays Boston Police sergeant Tommy Saunders, also acknowledged the vision realised by director Peter Berg, with whom he has previously worked on Lone Survivor and Deepwater Horizon.
“Pete cares – he wants to tell the story of these heroes, and he’s committed to getting it right.”
He himself hails from Boston, so getting Patriots Day off the ground (it’s based on the book ‘Boston Strong’ by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge) and getting it made was a point not only of personal pride but also pride in his community, and how individuals made sacrifices for the greater good on that day.
More: Patriots Day is Mark Wahlberg’s love letter to Boston
“For someone to go out there and commit themselves to their community, their country, that’s a big deal,” he said about his motivation for making the film. “That needs to be recognised, those heroes and anybody else who would put themselves at risk, or in harm’s way, to help strangers.”
“This is not about our individual experiences as actors. It’s up to us to get it right to honour the victims, as well as all the people who worked so tirelessly to help and aid – the first responders, the police, the FBI, and who also tracked those guys [the bombers] down to make sure they didn’t cause any more harm.”
Patriots Day is released in UK cinemas on February 23rd, and it stars other big names in the form of Kevin Bacon, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan and John Goodman.
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