Mark, Mila and Ludacris are in "Payne"

If you are a videogamer or your friends are, you've probably heard of the "Max Payne" games. The kick-butt Max character, a rogue cop, cruises a dark, film-noir-ish world in search of the killers of his family and partner. His enemies are corporate thugs, Russian mobsters and his own obsessions. This stylish game world has been translated to film in the neo-noir action thriller Max Payne starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges. This time around, Max faces huge, supernatural, flying shadow demons as well as the human baddies.

Mark, Mila and Chris met with us this last weekend to fill us in on their characters; Mark is, of course Max, Mila plays hot Mona Sax, a gorgeous Russian mobster/assassin and Chris plays police Internal Affairs investigator Jim Bravura. We wanted to know how they all got along on the high pressure, intense, freezing Toronto action sets, how Chris feels as a rapper turned actor and what is next for each star. Picture the guys looking casual/cute and Mila in a black silk blouse over gray skinny jeans and high black boots. We enjoyed the actors' feisty, teasing exchanges.....

TeenHollywood: Mila, this is your first kick butt action role, did you enjoy the clothes, the guns and the training? Was it different for you?

Mila: I didn't enjoy the clothes very much. I enjoyed the guns and I enjoyed the training a lot. I had weapons safety training and then John [Moore, the director] for some reason, made me learn how to take an MK5H apart and put it back together blindfolded. I really don't know why but I now know how to do that in case anyone wants it. I liked shooting the gun a lot more than I thought I would but the clothes sucked. Oh my God, it was awful. Mark was like bundled up in jackets and wet suits and coats and turtlenecks and I was in a leather bustier and black pants and 5 inch heels. Five inches of snow in five inch heels, you can't look sexy and you can't look like you know what you're doing because you're falling and I'm klutzy. It's bad.

TeenHollywood: Was it tough getting into this boys' club? Did you have to out-macho them?

Mila: I don't need to try to out-macho them. I mean, look at right here. Who's machoer? Me! I am very tough, as Mark will tell you. Yes, of course. I am so not a tough person. Yeah, it's a little hard but I'm used to, from '70's', being around so many boys all the time but I'm just more used to being picked on and being funny versus trying to kick a** and pretend like I'm really tough and know what I'm doing. It was such a challenge but I liked it a lot. If I had the gun, it didn't matter what your size was, what your stature was. As long as I was holding the weapon, I win so that was really great but the clothes sucked.

Chris: Well, it looked good. It was sexy.

Mark: She needed to understand actor safety. She's swinging that stick at me like a wild person. You're not supposed to hit somebody in the movies.

Mila: You kind of liked it.

Mark: It's just make pretend. Only I get to hit for real.

Mila: Okay, okay.

TeenHollywood: For each of you, can you talk about what attracted you to this project and what you enjoyed most about making this film?

Chris: Well, what attracted me to the project was being able to point a gun at Mark Wahlberg and get away with it and live to tell about it today. So you know, that's definitely why I signed on to do this movie. Just to point a gun at this man.

Mark: [sad face] I thought he liked me. [laughter]

Chris: No, I'm just messing with him but honestly I try to pick those diverse roles and things that I haven't done before. This is my first time getting a little piece of the action and then playing on that [good] side of the law. You know, I love surprising myself and of course everyone else that watches, so Jim Bravura, Internal Affairs Agent, my first time actually playing that kind of role and enjoyed doing it. It was actually written for a 60-year-old white man [laughter].

Mila: I just really wanted to beat Mark up and I did and it was really great. It was really empowering. I got a lot of my anger out and angst and yeah, that's it.

Mark: I just did it because they offered it to me. [laughter] I just played a science teacher in The Happening, I played an accountant in The Lovely Bones, and it was time to go back and do what I think best suits me, busting some heads and having some fun and kicking a** on the bad guys.

TeenHollywood: Mark, there are some signature 'Max Payne' moves that you get to do like the double guns and the slow motion. How did it feel to act those out?

Mark: The idea of it was fun but it wasn't like we had a gigantic budget so we were on a green screen with wires and everything. We basically shot all the action on film. But being able to do those kind of things and especially the third act of the film when he finally actually takes the [hallucinogenic] drug and really goes crazy, it's what every kid dreams about doing. We wanted to make it look real so we just basically got in there and tried to do as much as possible.

TeenHollywood: They made a little fun of you on 'Saturday Night Live'. How did you like that?

Mark: You know what? It's flattering. It wasn't obviously as funny as the Tina Fey Sarah Palin thing so I don't know. Maybe it's a little jab because I've refused to do the show so many times but yeah, it was funny. I ain't knockin' it. It's all good.

TeenHollywood: Was it harder to go to that dark place in Max's head since you now have your own family?

Mark: Definitely. I'm not one of those Shakespearean actors that thinks about the color blue or thinks about that place where I wanted to hide and be alone as a kid. I have my past which has got a lot of stuff to draw from and I have children so I think about something horrible happening to my family. That's why I couldn't wait until the last day of shooting so I could go home and hug my kids and get those thoughts out of my head.

TeenHollywood: We hear it was super cold and snowing in Toronto. That can't have been fun.

Mark: No and John, also, right before we started shooting, if a big storm was coming in, he'd call the crew up in the middle of the night and say, 'Let's go, get the cameras.' You know, we'd go out there and shoot some additional footage. They definitely were thrilled that they had those kind of conditions.

TeenHollywood: Chris, has Samuel L. Jackson ever said anything to you about how he feels about rappers moving to acting and taking jobs from 'real' actors?

Chris: I only hear about it through other people. No one has ever said anything to my face. I actually had a party at Comic Con and he came through there.

Mark: Sam was mad for a little while. I think he's come around now. Sam lives right around the corner from me. Sam is mad at the supermarket when I see him. People come up to him and they're like, 'Mr. Jackson.' 'Nah, nah.' But if you look at Chris's approach, it's not like 'I'm kinda coming in and out, taking a couple of paychecks and not really respecting the art form and trying to grow as an actor and trying to be taken seriously'. Chris is a guy who has much respect for the art form and has continued to try. I told him 'it's a marathon. It's not a sprint' and he's really choosing roles to continue to grow as an actor, work with people that he can learn from and become better.

Chris: Thanks. The check is in the mail.

TeenHollywood: Mila, you are mostly known for your comedy roles like on "That '70's Show" or as the hottie in the recent Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Was there room for any humor in this film?

Mila: Mona Sax wasn't very funny. I stopped [trying to be funny] after like two weeks. I was like, 'Eh, f**k this, I won't be funny'. I'm kidding. I have this odd tendency to be really sarcastic when I'm uncomfortable and I don't really know why but it just comes out and it's come out since I was a child and Mark makes me incredibly uncomfortable so thus I do dumb s**t in front of him and made dumb comments. And then halfway through he just looks at me and goes, 'What?'

Mark: Well, you'll be standing there and she'll come up and kick you from behind. She's like, 'Oh, that was really funny. Ha ha ha ha ha ha.' Yeah, she cracks herself up. That's for sure.

Mila: I do. I make myself laugh all the time. I think I'm really funny. I do.

TeenHollywood: Okay, we'll be serious. Mark, what was the biggest challenge of the role?

Mark: Going to that emotional place and having to imagine something horrible happening to my family. The biggest physical challenge was keeping up the mystery and the façade that I'm actually tough and cool and can go and do all this action stuff and it doesn't hurt and I'm not scared because I'm not the thrill seeker that I used to be. Chris says, 'Oh, I gotta get this new motorcycle.' I said, 'No, I gave my motorcycle away. No more jumping out of planes or off of buildings or any of that stuff.' Between movies, I tell them to wrap me up in cellophane so nothing happens, because I want to be able to play with my kids. I got a few guys that look exactly like me. Even when I'm driving down the street, if I see somebody who looks like me, I ask them if they're willing to jump out a window or get hit by a car. No faster than 35 miles an hour of course but yeah.

TeenHollywood: What is the best advice you were ever given?

Mark: Treat people the way you'd like to be treated. Humble yourself and glorify God, that's another good one.

TeenHollywood: There was a sequel to the game. Would you do another movie?

Mark: If I don't, Chris will. We already talked about that but my whole thing is if we can make it better than the first....if we could have him crazy the whole time then that'd be another thing that would appeal to me. We've gotta do a Mona Sax spinoff, that's for sure.

Mila: Yeah, I agree with Mark.

Chris: Exactly and I mean, being a black man that didn't die in the first one, I definitely would be looking forward to the sequel, thank you. Thank you, yes, very much. I take pride.

TeenHollywood: Were any of you familiar with Max Payne before you signed on?

Mila: I was.

Chris: Yes, yes.

Mark: I found out about the game after reading the script.

TeenHollywood: Were you apprehensive about the stigma of video game movies?

Mark: It wasn't really brought to my attention how many movies had actually been adapted from games. When I read the script, a bit of a red flag popped up only because I grew up playing Atari and Pacman and Asteroids and there's not much of a story there. But seeing this game and realizing how elaborate the story is and how cinematic it is and how much games have changed, I don't care where the stories come from as long as they're interesting and there's fresh ways to tell them.

TeenHollywood: Mark, have you seen your bro in a New Kids on the Block concert yet?

Mark: I haven't, no but I'm going to try, yeah. He asked me to come to the one in LA but I was coming back to Dallas. A couple of my friends who were reluctant to go in Boston, said that they were pretty d**n good.

TeenHollywood: What's next for everybody?

Mila: I just wrapped on Friday a thing called Extract. It's Mike Judge's next movie. It's in the vein of Office Space. It's Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, myself, Kristin Wiig, J.K. Simmons. It's really, really funny. Takes place in an extract factory but very, very funny.

Mark: Chris has his record "Theater of the Mind", November 25th.

Chris: Yeah, and then RocknRolla which is out in LA and New York now and comes out the rest of the country on October 31st. That's Guy Ritchie written and directed so those three projects pretty much for me.

Mark: The Lovely Bones coming out next year and trying to figure out what I'm going to do next.

TeenHollywood: How hard was it to come into The Lovely Bones at the last minute?

Mark: The last minute was fine. The only thing again I was worried about was dealing with the subject matter [a child's death] and having to go to that place, which is also why Max Payne was such a great release afterwards because the other side of me would want to go out and wreak havoc on whoever was responsible and I got to do that through this film. But the experience working with Peter Jackson was like no other. It was the most amazing experience of my career.

TeenHollywood: Chris, what can you tell us about the record?

Mila: T.I.'s on it, Game's on it, Lil' Wayne guest stars on it.

Chris: Yeah. November 25th is album number six for me, 'Theater of the Mind', concept type record. My experience of doing the movies, I kind of took that experience and put it towards the album so when I say every song is a movie, I have costars on it instead of features. A lotta storytelling songs and basically where you have to use your imagination, like if I provide you the audio on this album, the rest is up to the theater of your mind.

TeenHollywood: What is your new film The Game about?

Chris: Yeah, that's going to be interesting. It comes out in '09 and basically Gerard Butler is the star of it and it's a futuristic action film. Basically, it's kind of reminiscent of The Running Man a little bit but only you have convicts that are being played as actual video games. So if you can imagine how interactive games are today, imagine in the future that there'll be people playing other people as actual video games and that's what that movie's all about. So yeah, they're working on all of that stuff now. It's going to be interesting in 2009 to check that out.