Mark Wahlberg Talks TED 2, TRANSFORMERS 4, and PAIN AND GAIN; Says TF Starts Shooting in May Followed By TED Sequel

Mark Wahlberg is quite a busy guy, and his schedule doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.  The actor hit the comedy jackpot this summer in Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s feature directorial debut Ted, which already has a sequel in the works, and he’s also poised to delve into franchise fare as the lead in Michael Bay’s upcoming Transformers 4.  Steve recently got to interview Wahlberg in anticipation of the upcoming political thriller Broken City, and the actor gave updates on Transformers 4 and a sequel to Ted, and talked briefly about Bay’s small-scale black comedy Pain and Gain.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

During the interview, Wahlberg revealed that he’s yet to see a full cut of Pain and Gain because Bay wants him to see the movie with an audience, but he did discuss how working with Bay on that project lead to the Transformers 4 gig:

“That’s why Transformers came about, because we had such a great time working together [on Pain and Gain]. We kind of complemented each other throughout the entire process, what he does and what I do and what we were able to do together, and then after that I was like ‘Dude we gotta work together again,’ and he was like, ‘Well I got a project, you interested?’ (laughs)”

Bay has been plenty busy gearing up for pre-production on Transformers 4 as he simultaneously puts the finishing touches on Pain and Gain, but a sequel to Ted is also moving forward quickly since the R-rated comedy grossed over $500 million worldwide for Universal.  Wahlberg revealed that he’ll likely be shooting both sequels next year:

“We’re shooting Transformers in May, and then I believe we’re gonna do Ted 2 right after.  They’re working on it now and we’ve kind of gone through the negotiation process.  The great thing about it is Seth’s ideas for the second one are sick.  He comes from the world of episodic television so he knows how to tell the stories, man, in a way that most people don’t, like for instance The Italian Job we’ve been trying to do the sequel for 10 years.  He’s a different kind of guy.”

MacFarlane recently committed to directing and starring in the live-action Western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West as his next project, with production set to begin next summer.  Filming on the Transformers sequel will likely last a few months, so it’s conceivable that both Wahlberg and MacFarlane could be free to film the Ted follow-up late next fall or next winter.  That being said, the two certainly look to have their hands full in the near future as MacFarlane is also poised to host the Oscars in February and will continue to juggle three different TV series.  I’m not entirely convinced the guy isn’t a machine.

Watch the portion of Steve’s interview in which Wahlberg talks about Transformers, Ted 2, and Pain and Gain below, and look for the full interview closer to the release of Broken City. Transformers 4 is set for release on June 27, 2014.