Mark Wahlberg transforms himself for 'Gambler' role

The first thing you notice about Mark Wahlberg in his upcoming film The Gambler is the alarmingly gaunt appearance of the normally buff actor.

As far as Wahlberg is concerned, the extreme weight loss — 60 pounds — was not the toughest obstacle he had to overcome for the role. The Oscar-nominated actor (The Departed, 2006) knew he had to work to carry off the part of a magnetic literary professor who is obsessed with gambling.

Wahlberg grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Dorchester, Mass., and dropped out of high school; he just completed his high school diploma online last year at age 42.

"Forget losing the weight," he says. "Being believable as a teacher was one of my greatest challenges and most rewarding. It meant being able to have the comfort to really understand and say those words."

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For months before showing up on set, Wahlberg pored over the script, became versed in every literary mention and sat through university lectures for inspiration. He is ready to show his Jim Bennett to the world. The Gambler is slotted for an awards season-friendly limited release Dec. 19.

"Comments we've been getting from the test screenings include, 'I never thought I would see Mark Wahlberg as a professor, but I believed it and went along for the ride,' " Wahlberg recounts. "Hearing that hit on one of my big reasons for doing this part. It's different and unexpected."

The film is an updated retelling of the 1974 drama The Gambler starring James Caan as a professor whose gambling addiction is spiraling out of control. The new film features the original producers, Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff.

Wahlberg's Bennett does not pay much attention to his appearance or even such important activities as eating. The dynamo in the lecture hall is leading a double life, blowing his family fortune and money borrowed from dangerous lenders.

"This is a man who has everything — wealth, looks, education," says director Rupert Wyatt. "But he's trapped in a gilded cage of privilege. He sets out on this journey to rid himself of all material possessions — to blow it all up — a quest to strip himself to get back to zero."

Even the loan sharks (including a bald John Goodman) who watch the descent find it fascinating, but still punish Bennett brutally until a student (Brie Larson) gives him reason to try to pull his life together.

Off-screen, Wahlberg had to wait until he finished shooting Transformers: Age of Extinction before dropping the weight on a medically supervised liquid diet — going from 197 to 137 pounds.

"Losing 60 pounds was not fun. I was never a happy guy being deprived of food," says Wahlberg. "I like to eat six or seven meals a day. But we had to get rid of that stuff."

Transformers director Michael Bay saw Wahlberg's weight loss during filming and assumed the actor was deathly ill, Wahlberg says. Wyatt notes that on the set, Wahlberg would rest often to deal with what he assumed was an extreme lack of caloric energy. Yet Wahlberg insists energy was never an issue.

"My character is in every scene, but during the 12-hour days over six months I was on fire," says Wahlberg. "You prepare your whole life for a part like this. I was living on adrenaline."