Netflix is getting back in business with Mark Wahlberg, who is set to produce and star in the streamer's blue-collar spy movie Our Man from Jersey. Wahlberg's most recent Netflix movie, Spenser Confidential, has been watched by 85 million subscribers, so short of a sequel, it makes sense that Netflix would be eager to work with him again.
Deadline reports that the streamer shelled out seven figures to acquire the project, which will be written by Safe House scribe David Guggenheim. He's no stranger to Netflix, as not only did he serve as an executive producer on the Kurt Russell movie The Christmas Chronicles, which already has a sequel in the can, but he also created the Kiefer Sutherland series Designated Survivor, which migrated to Netflix following two seasons on ABC. He also goes way back with Netflix's Scott Stuber, who produced Safe House.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it seems safe to assume that Wahlberg will play a spy of sorts from, you guessed it, New Jersey. Now, Wahlberg has never been one for accents aside from his own Boston accent, so we'll see if he can adapt his voice for this movie, which he'll produce with Stephen Levinson, who came up with this inspired idea.
In early March, I spent a night in the hospital and managed to watch Spenser Confidential on my phone (sorry, Berg brothers!) in between breathing treatments and bags of fluids. It was pretty much exactly what I was expecting, which is to say, it was entertaining. Nothing more, nothing less. It was perfectly watchable. I'm glad it's not the last movie I ever saw, but I'm also glad I got the chance to see it, as 85 million other people did. It was, for a time, the most-watched original Netflix movie of all time. Of course, Extraction came along a month later and laid its own claim to the streamer's record, which may be why Wahlberg is back so soon, and graduating from Boston to the even more heavily-populated Tri-State area. He's coming for that record!
I think Netflix should just go all-in and cast Chris Hemsworth opposite Wahlberg here. After all, a spy movie typically has a villain, right? We've seen Hemsworth play the hero time and time again, and we've seen his goofy side too in the occasional comedy, so let's see his dark side and make him the cocky bad guy who Wahlberg has to teach a lesson. If Chris is too busy lifting hammers for Marvel, Wahlberg should just cast his brother Liam Hemsworth and get his revenge on the whole Hemsworth family. You think Extraction's 90 million views were something, huh? Well my version of this Jersey movie would get 100 million views, easy peasy!
The point is, do not put it past Mark Wahlberg to do whatever it takes to get his hands on this record and keep it forever. I could see him calling his 2 Guns buddy Denzel Washington or his The Departed co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon just to make a cameo in this thing. Hell, I could see Mark Wahlberg burning down the set of Red Notice just to prevent that upcoming Netflix movie starring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds from ever coming out. Mark Wahlberg is that competitive, and God bless him for it.
The big, bright, shining star that is Mark Wahlberg will be explored in an upcoming documentary series titled Wahl Street that will air on HBO Max, and if you want more details about that project, which I know you do, then you'll have to click here. Them's the rules.