Question: Did you enjoy working on "The Sixth Sense"? I really liked that movie, and you can really act!
Donnie Wahlberg: Yeah, I did. Truthfully, I didn't enjoy preparing to work for the movie because I physically had to go through a lot to prepare. And the character I played has been suffering his whole life, so I had to suffer to really give it a true portrayal. Working with Bruce Willis and the writer was incredible, but physically it was so hard that it made it a little unenjoyable. I was a mess and was really in pain doing it.
Donnie Wahlberg: I feel like I was miscast for the part because I was physically wrong for it. But the writer is such a genius, and he offered me the role, and I said "great." And in order to prepare, I knew I had to lose some weight, but getting into the process, I started to really suffer and started connecting with the character and I couldn't stop the cycle and spiraled downwards emotionally and physically, and became this person. It took all the suffering to do what I did on screen.
Question: Why did you pick "The Sixth Sense" to do?
Donnie Wahlberg: I read the script by some fluke. I just happened to pick it out of a pile of scripts, and I cried reading it and was totally stunned at the end. I really didn't think I could be in the film. I didn't read any character I thought I could play. The role I played was written as an 18-year-old emaciated boy, but I felt that I just had to meet the guy that wrote it, and so I got on a plane from Toronto to New York.
Donnie Wahlberg: And I really hate to fly, so anything to motivate me to get on a plane and meet this guy and to say this was the best script I had ever read, and he said I should think about playing this role. And I thought it would be an honor just to work on this film, and it turned out I got to play this role.
Question: Aloha, Donnie. Who or what has influenced you the most to take the acting route?
Donnie Wahlberg: Well, I guess not anyone in particular, but acting sort of pursued me first. Let me back that up. I started acting in high school, and during my sophomore year, I started in NKOB, and that took off. I've always enjoyed acting, and during that time I was offered scripts and acting sort of pursued me, but I was doing music. But after that, I gave it a shot and started falling in love with it more and more.
Donnie Wahlberg: Now, after doing something like "The Sixth Sense," it was a total departure from myself and was the first time I became another human being, and that was what inspires me to do it the most. I couldn't really watch it the first time. It was very uncomfortable to look at it. I really flashed back to being in the bathroom, and for me, it's more intense than the viewer to watch it because I was in real bad shape. I didn't act in that movie, I just showed up, and they said go. It was very hard to watch it.
Question: When are you going to release another album?
Donnie Wahlberg: I don't think I'm going to release another album any time in the next millennium.
EAMusic1: Do you have plans for the millennium?
Donnie Wahlberg: I'm not going to hide, and I'm not going to fly out of town. I'm going to stay close to home and take it easy. I had a big New Year's last year. And this year I'm going to be Y2K cautious, not Y2K ignorant or paranoid, but keep it in the back of my mind.
Question: Do you have any advice for the boy bands of today?
Donnie Wahlberg: I don't think they need any advice from me. They're doing pretty good. You know, specific advice, I don't know. They're doing really well, and I don't know what advice I could offer them. I don't feel like I should even be asked to comment on them. I don't think it really has anything to do with me. Sure, NKOB was a predecessor to these groups, but they'll figure it out for themselves. There's nothing I can tell them, and they don't want to hear it anyway.
Question: Are there any major roles you tried out for but didn't get? Have you and your brother ever been up for the same role?
Donnie Wahlberg: I've been up for some roles. I'm not really sure. I don't really remember the ones that I didn't get because I kind of just move on from it. There was one script I read and said "ahhhh," and it turned out to be pretty good. I'm not going to say what it was. Mark and I haven't been up for anything but one picture. And I did an incredible audition, probably the best one I ever did. And Marky just came off of "Boogie Nights," so he didn't have to audition.
Donnie Wahlberg: Hopefully we'll act together, but it's weird because we've been on different paths. When I was finishing up music, he was planting his feet in Hollywood and getting in the door. And after he established himself, I came along, and I'm just starting to build a good reputation for myself. In time, sure we'd like to do it.
Question: Do you and Mark hang out? How come he wasn't a New Kid?
Donnie Wahlberg: He was... for a few months. Him and I were the first two New Kids on the Block, and he.... Actually we weren't NKOB, we were NYNUK. It's the stupidest name in the world. But Mark can't sing and wasn't interested in singing. And for "Boogie Nights," he sings in that, and it's real awful, and that's probably the best he's ever been. He's just not cracked up for it, and it wasn't his thing, but he's done real well without it.
Question: Hey, Donnie. I just got done seeing "The Sixth Sense." You're a great actor. I loved you as a New Kid. You're my cover boy. Do you regret being a New Kid? Boxers or briefs? (I saw you in briefs in "The Sixth Sense.")
Donnie Wahlberg: LOL, tighty-whities. No, I don't regret being a New Kid. It's not really an important part of my life right now, but I learned so much from it and enjoyed it. There were times I hated it. But kids hate high school, but it's some of the fondest memories they'll ever have. For me, it was like college. I learned about business and entertainment and people and the way things operate, and I finished when I was 25. And it depends on how you look at it. Some people go on a ride like that, and when it ends they say, "What am I going to do now?" But some people say, "OK, now we're going to do this."
Donnie Wahlberg: By the way, boxers. I'll tell you a secret. In "The Sixth Sense," I wore boxers, but wanted to do it nude. I just felt like this character was coming to end his suffering and hiding and so he just stripped down and got ready to confront his demons and doctor. But I couldn't really do it nude, so we decided the stained and soiled briefs worked.
Question: Donnie, in "The Sixth Sense" I saw you had a nipple ring. May I ask, did it hurt?
Donnie Wahlberg: Yes. It hurt tremendously. It really did. Let me tell you. I had my nose pierced for about 8 years, and it closed up. So I went to get my nipple pierced and thought while I was there, I'd get my nose re-pierced, and I blacked out. It was the worst, stupidest torture I put myself through, and I took it out as soon as we were done with "The Sixth Sense." It really hurt, man, and it was really stupid to do it. No pain killers. I went to the Gauntlet here in Hollywood, and they strap on forceps and watch this needle going through. I enjoyed it for a few years.
Question: What's the freakiest thing a fan ever did?
Donnie Wahlberg: There's so much. I really don't know. I think one fan sent me some poison cake. You know, you get some food from someone, like don't take candy from strangers. Well, this fan was real crazy. It looked like cake, it might have been brownies, but I'm telling you, it was poison. This girl was insane. And one night we did a pay-per-view concert, and she was outside the limo staring in the headlights like a deer, looking like she was going to kill us. And I can't prove they were poison, but I knew they were. She wanted to kill me. She jumped my fence and asked my mother, "Where is Donnie? I'm his aunt." I probably shouldn't say this, she's probably watching.
Question: I heard you are getting married. When's the date?
Donnie Wahlberg: I cannot reveal that. There is some element of truth to that. Absolutely.
Question: How was Bruce's personality?
Donnie Wahlberg: Fantastic. I can't say enough about how great he was to work with. Just generally speaking, you understand why he's such a big movie star. He has this certain appeal, being a real guy, a man's man. He is. Not only was he great to talk to and hang out with, but like I say, I was in a bad way while we were shooting, and he was real conscious of that. He was always looking out and if I needed anything. And he had gone through similar processes and was very giving.
Donnie Wahlberg: Movie stars don't have to give, and it's important when you're acting to have some people be generous who are acting. I've been very lucky. I've worked with Mel Gibson, who is the same way, very generous. A huge, huge star, but is very generous. I've been lucky. In all films I've been in, they've been great. Bruce is probably best of all.
Question: What do you think about your "bad boy" image from the New Kids days? Have you outgrown that image?
Donnie Wahlberg: I think I've outgrown it. I don't know. It just probably spawned from me wanting to be normal and not be viewed as something more special than I was. When I started with NKOB, my goals were just maybe to be able to buy a car one day. I didn't know what it was going to become. We worked with what we had and did the best we could, and by the grace of God we became the biggest things in the world. And at times, it became difficult to live up to that. And I probably rebelled in just wanting to be normal and walk down the street and shake hands with someone saying, "Hi, how are you doing?" And walk into a pizza shop and not be noticed.
Donnie Wahlberg: So that's where the bad boy thing started, with me wanting to be normal. I enjoyed being famous, don't get me wrong. It's not like I hated it. It has huge benefits, but I like being not-so-famous. Just because you don't realize how great things are until they're gone. You don't realize how cool it is to just sit on the subway and read the newspaper or go into the grocery store and buy some Cap'n Crunch. It's something that I cherish now. My privacy is very important to me now, and I never thought it would matter. Being in a big family, you didn't get much privacy, but it became very important when I lost it.
Question: Can you tell us more about your plans with Howard Johnson's?
Donnie Wahlberg: You're stumped, aren't you? My partner, Dan Newcomb, and I just bought the last existing Howard Johnson's (the restaurant) in the state of Massachusetts. Most people know it as a hotel, but there used to be a huge chain of restaurants, and I just purchased the last one, and I don't really have any information about it. But go buy some ice cream. If you're from Massachusetts, you know to go buy some ice cream. And tell Dan I said to give you a discount.
Question: Do you feel you might be typecast for a dead guy because every role except “Southie” you die in or look dead in?
Donnie Wahlberg: Yeah, well, they're going to do "Weekend at Bernie's 5," and I'm going to be Bernie because I just play such a good dead guy. NO! I don't worry about that. People say that, are you worried about being typecast, and I don't. Playing the role in "The Sixth Sense" is breaking a typecast to me. That role doesn't apply to some of the other roles I've done. I'm not worried about it anyway. They have people die a lot in the movies, in case you haven't noticed.
Question: Do you ever want to have a reunion with NKOB?
Donnie Wahlberg: Sure, I mean, I guess I would. It's just, you know, we've been asked a lot. We've been asked recently to do it for some big people. I won't get into the who and where and what, but it's a little too fresh now, and it wouldn't be nostalgic yet. It's too quick. Someday. It's like having a high school reunion after you graduate. Some of us keep in touch. We went through something very few people get to, and at the time, we were the only ones going through it.
Donnie Wahlberg: We had a bond, and we worked very hard to make it and went through a lot together and stuff people couldn't dream of that we experienced. Someday it would be good, but for now some guys are working on things that are important to them individually, and so am I, so it's not something that's going to happen soon.
Question: After being in "The Sixth Sense," do you believe in ghosts?
Donnie Wahlberg: I'm open to believing in anything. I don't doubt anything, but most importantly, I believe in God. So if he's got ghosts running around, all right. It's his world. I've never experienced anything like that myself, but I believe that some people are gifted in the mind with extra senses. If it's intuition or psyches or whatever, but I believe some people are gifted. I believe the writer of "The Sixth Sense" is gifted. I've heard stories from people about ghosts, but I've never experienced it. I don't walk around thinking about it.
Question: Hey, Donnie! What do you have in store for us fans in the upcoming months?
Donnie Wahlberg: Well, I'm going to have a huge party at Howard Johnson's. It will be the ice cream feast.... No. Well, I have a film called the "Bullfighter" coming out and then a film with Robert Forester.... He's the man. He's the best. And, actually, a film I did a while back, "Southie," is going to be released in New York on September 17, and that was an independent film that was a lot of hard work, and to see it open in New York is a big achievement.
EAMusic1: Thank you, Donnie, for a great chat!
Donnie Wahlberg: Thank you.
EAMusic1: Take care, everyone! Thanks for a great chat!
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