7 Roles Mark Wahlberg Turned Down That Could Have Redefined His Career
From music dropout to box office dominator, Mark Wahlberg turned bets like Transformers, The Departed, The Fighter, and Ted into clout across theaters and streamers — but his relentless chase for the next big film may be testing what he’s willing to sacrifice.
Mark Wahlberg has had a wildly successful pivot from music to movies, with a career that swings from Oscar winners to box office behemoths and streaming hits. But the road not taken is just as interesting. He passed on a bunch of roles that would have sent his filmography in very different directions — including one major superhero gig and a few that ended up defining other actors. Some of these passes make perfect sense. A couple are head-scratchers. And at least one still bugs him.
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Robin - Batman Forever (1995)
When Joel Schumacher took over Batman from Tim Burton, he cast Chris O'Donnell as Robin. Wahlberg says he actually met with Schumacher multiple times about playing Dick Grayson but never got a formal offer or did a suit test. On Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused, he put it plainly:
"No, we met. We met quite a few times. We talked about it [but] I never got the official offer."
He has also said he was glad it didn't happen. In a separate chat with ET Online, he mentioned meeting Schumacher for Robin on Batman & Robin — which muddles the timeline a bit since O'Donnell debuted in Batman Forever. Chalk that up to memory fog. Either way, Wahlberg wasn't into that flavor of Batman, despite being a fan of Schumacher's other work. The film itself landed mixed reviews but still pulled in $336.6 million worldwide and remains a big swing in the franchise. And yes, Wahlberg still hasn't jumped into a major superhero universe. Batman Forever is streaming on HBO Max.
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Jim Street - S.W.A.T. (2003)
The 2003 actioner S.W.A.T. stacked its cast with Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, Jeremy Renner, LL Cool J, and Michelle Rodriguez. Wahlberg was in the mix to play Jim Street — the role Farrell took — but turned it down, along with Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, to make The Italian Job instead. Financially, S.W.A.T. did just fine: $207.7 million worldwide on a $70 million budget. Would Wahlberg have changed the vibe? Maybe. As is, it's a solid mid-2000s shoot-'em-up. You can rent it on Amazon and Apple TV.
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Brian O'Conner - The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Before Paul Walker locked in as the franchise's undercover-cop-with-a-heart, the FBI agent role was reportedly floated to Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Eminem, per CBS. Wahlberg was hot off Boogie Nights and on plenty of lists, but he was already booked up — including Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. Also, it's hard to picture his Boston energy fitting cleanly into early-2000s LA street racer culture. Walker and Vin Diesel's chemistry is the reason these movies blew up. That said, the Fast world is never shy about new faces; Wahlberg could still show up someday. The first film made $207.2 million worldwide and is available to rent on Amazon and Apple TV.
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Donnie Darko - Donnie Darko (2001)
Richard Kelly's time-warp mind-bender wasn't a hit out of the gate but grew into a cult classic. Kelly has said in The Guardian's How We Made series that the Donnie shortlist was all over the map: Jason Schwartzman originally, Vince Vaughn considered (but reluctant to play 16), Mark Wahlberg in the running, and ultimately Jake Gyllenhaal, who had just carried October Sky. According to MTV, Wahlberg pushed to play Donnie with a lisp — a swing Kelly wasn't into — and talks fizzled. Tough to imagine anyone but Gyllenhaal now. Donnie Darko grossed $7.5 million worldwide and is streaming on Netflix and Prime Video.
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George Samuel Kirk Sr. - Star Trek (2009)
Wahlberg straight-up regrets passing on J.J. Abrams's reboot. He was up for George Samuel Kirk Sr., Captain Kirk's dad — the part that went to Chris Hemsworth. It would have been a small role, but in a gigantic franchise. His reason for saying no is... very Mark:
"I tried to read the script, but I couldn't understand the words or dialogue or anything, and I said, I couldn't do this. Then I saw the movie. I went, 'Holy sh*t, [Abrams] did a great job.'"
He later added he wouldn't turn down another Abrams sci-fi even if the jargon made no sense. The film racked up four Oscar nominations and won Best Makeup, launched two less-loved sequels (Into Darkness in 2013 and Beyond in 2016), and took in $385.7 million worldwide. It's streaming on Paramount+.
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Linus Caldwell - Ocean's Eleven (2001)
This is the big what-if. Wahlberg was offered the pickpocket role that became Matt Damon's calling card across the Ocean's trilogy. He asked the production to wait, but he had already committed to Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes and Jonathan Demme's The Truth About Charlie. He has been candid about the trade-off, saying the movies he chose weren't great, but the experiences mattered while he was still trying to grow as an actor. George Clooney, meanwhile, famously told EW:
"Some very famous people told us to f**k right off. Mark Wahlberg, Johnny Depp. There were others. They regret it now. I regret doing f**king Batman."
Ocean's Eleven became a slick, star-stuffed hit, grossing $450.7 million worldwide, and solidified Damon's spot in the crew. It's streaming on Paramount+.
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Jack Twist - Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Ang Lee's modern classic was a watershed for LGBTQ+ stories in mainstream Hollywood, tracking a complicated romance between two cowboys from 1963 to 1983. Plenty of actors passed before Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger signed on. Gus Van Sant, who was attached to direct at one point, told IndieWire he tried Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Ryan Phillippe — all no's. Wahlberg met with Lee, read a bit, and backed out. His explanation to WENN, via Unilad, was blunt:
"I met with Ang Lee on that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and got a little creeped out. It was very graphic, descriptive–the spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing. I told Ang Lee, 'I like you, you're a talented guy, if you want to talk about it more.' Thankfully, he didn't."
He later clarified that Lee never actually offered him the role during that meeting. Jack Twist went to Gyllenhaal, who won the BAFTA for Best Actor for it. The film won three Oscars (Director, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score) and made $179.1 million worldwide. You can rent it on Amazon and Apple TV.
Big picture: Wahlberg has built a sturdy career — The Departed, The Fighter, Ted, Transformers, the whole star-producer phase — but the near-misses tell their own story. Sometimes he swerved for schedule reasons, sometimes for taste, sometimes because the script looked like a word salad. And every now and then, he looks back at one and winces a little.