by Scott Collura
February 28, 2007

An interview with Donnie Wahlberg from the set of his upcoming horror flick.

February 28, 2007 - Donnie Wahlberg is no stranger to the world of horror. Not only has he been a part of the Saw franchise and The Sixth Sense, but some might say that he has an even more horrific mark on his resume: his tenure with the boy band New Kids on the Block!

But in all fairness, he persevered in the wake of his time with the band and worked toward gaining respect as an actor. After all, Wahlberg may have been in the New Kids when he was a young man, but where exactly were you making your millions at that time?

Now he costars in Dead Silence, director James Wan's helming follow-up to the first Saw (Wan has produced, but not directed the sequels to that series). IGN caught up with Wahlberg on the set of the film to discuss the killer-doll picture, which will see release on March 16th.

"This movie Silence is a completely different thing, completely different character [from Saw]," explains Wahlberg, who plays a detective in both films. "My character in Silence is, while he is a detective and he's investigating the case at the center of the film, it's really a much more fun character than what I did in Saw II. And I got to really sort of stretch out and try some fun things with him. And James, having watched me on the set of Saw, built up a lot of confidence in the relationship and he really trusts me on this. And he just said, 'Go man, just go and have a great time and do whatever you want and make it fun.' And his sort of role with me is to reel me in every now and then if I get a little too nutty."

The film takes place in the small town of Ravens Fair, where a local legend involving a murdered ventriloquist named Mary Shaw has haunted the inhabitants for decades. Ryan Kwanten stars as Jamie, a young man who must return to the town after the death of his wife in an attempt to solve the mystery of her murder. Wahlberg plays a detective from the big city who is also investigating the matter and may have reason to believe that Kwanten's character is in fact responsible for the crime.

"I don't want to say my character is the comic relief in the film, but I think he's in a different mindset than the rest of the people," says the actor. "The movie starts in the city, but then it moves to a small town where people sort of share certain beliefs. And my character is sort of jaded; he's seen it all and he doesn't buy into it. So while the rest of the film is moving at one speed, my guy's moving at a completely different speed. And while the rest of the characters in the film are on an emotional track that's to the right, my guy is to the left. He just doesn't buy it. Something about it intrigues him, but he doesn't really buy it and he's not going to allow himself to be seduced into this emotional state that the rest of the cast is in. And if he does that, he won't be able to do his job properly. So anywhere … that's left of center is mine. I own it. My character owns it, so I explore it all. Some people might handle a piece of evidence really delicately in this film; I won't because I'm not afraid of what the consequences are."

Dead Silence also stars Bob Gunton (the warden from The Shawshank Redemption) as Kwanten's father, Amber Valletta as Gunton's trophy wife, and Judith Roberts as the one and only Mary Shaw (or the ghost of her, or something…). Wahlberg recalls when he first read the script for the picture how much he enjoyed all of these characters, in addition to his own, and also that it seemed to him that the screenplay (by Wan and his partner Leigh Whannell) moved along at a nice clip and worked very well, despite its various Saw-esque twists and turns which could potentially complicate a film's plot.

"I was surprised by the script, by how quickly I got to page 70. Usually with scripts that aren't good, it takes you a long time to get to page 70 because you have to go back, reread and go, 'Wait a minute, what are they talking about here?'" explains the actor. "But I felt that the script was moving along really quick and really nice and I also felt that it was just creepy. And I liked that. I didn't read it through my character's eyes. I knew that they wanted me to play a certain character, but I read it through Jamie's eyes, the main character, taking the journey through his eyes which ordinarily I wouldn't do if I'm reading a script with a specific character in mind. But I read it through his eyes and I felt the creepiness of all these characters. Even my character was a little creepy and annoying. And I felt like I liked that."

By reading the script through Jamie's eyes, Wahlberg was able to better understand the viewpoint of the audience and the danger they will perceive at every turn as Jamie explores Ravens Fair.

"I like that this guy is sort of on his own track and he doesn't really know where to turn, he doesn't know who he can trust," continues Wahlberg. "There's a danger out there, a real danger because obviously he's lost his wife, but there's something out there and he doesn't know where it's coming from and he can't find it. And every person he bumps into is a really offbeat character and he has to be on his toes at every turn because any one of these people could somehow be involved and he never knows who or when he's going to find out [how]."

Wahlberg actually shot Dead Silence and Saw II back to back -- "I'm in the same hotel room!" he said during the set visit -- and obviously it was his work on the Saw sequel that impressed the filmmakers enough to bring him back for Dead Silence. But that's not to say that making the two films was an identical experience. With Wan helming Dead Silence and his successor Darren Lynn Bousman on Saw II, the actor saw both sides of the horror-helmer coin. In the case of Bousman, who was making his first big feature with Saw II, Wahlberg actually found himself in the odd position of feeling like the veteran on the set.

"Darren Bousman is frenetic, crazy, young, but fun," says Wahlberg. "[He's] willing to take chances, but it was his first time and you could see it in the good ways and the bad ways. That's not to say he wasn't a good director because he really did a great job, but you could just see his inexperience. For me it was kind of fun because I kind of felt like a veteran maybe for one of the first times. I was like, 'Wow, I'm kind of like the wily old veteran here.' … I'm sitting around in my chair with my newspaper and the director's kind of pulling his hair out and I'm looking at him and saying, 'If you just do that and that, we'll be fine. It'll be a great scene.' And he's like, 'Really? O.K.!' And then we do it and it works and it's like, 'Wow!' It's kind of like how Bruce Willis was on The Sixth Sense. Here I am, I lost like 40 pounds and I'm ready to keel over and die at any moment, and he's just sitting there, you know [whispers in that Willis way], "Just hit that mark and it'll be great.' Experience is just so wonderful, it's so great, and that's how I felt working with Darren. I recognized his greenness, but I also kind of got in touch with my own experience which is pretty cool."

Wan, on the other hand, is completely different. For one thing, he knows exactly what he wants when he's on the set, and he's far less willing to take suggestions than Bousman is. Wahlberg is amused by Wan's method of dealing with cast and crew who might suggest that the director deviate from his pre-set plan while on set.

"It's such a funny thing," laughs Wahlberg. "He has some of these shots, he sees them in his head before you even get to the set, and he has this way of if you throw too much of a curveball at him of an idea, he gives you this look. It's almost like you just asked him to eat a fart or something! It's such a weird look. It's like a foreign language to him because he has such a clear vision. I mean, he knows what he wants and if you present an idea to him that fits in the framework of that idea then he's all for it. But if you don't, then it definitely takes him a minute to grasp what the hell you're talking about. Even if it's just, 'I just want to wear a white shirt instead of a green one.' If the white shirt is too far out for him, it's like an alien question to him. But that said, he's awesome too. Every director I've worked with has been completely different than the previous director I worked with, but for the most part they've all been pretty cool. They've all taught me something new, either by design or not. By mistake they sometimes teach us. Sometimes you see what they're doing wrong and you learn from it. But in the case of these two guys, for them to be working so closely with each other, they are completely different."

Right. So no white shirts or fart eating while on James Wan's set. Dead Silence opens on March 16th. For more on movie, click here.

Originally appeared at: IGN