{"id":50273,"date":"2025-10-02T01:33:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/50273\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T01:33:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:33:11","slug":"play-dirty-director-shane-black-on-wrangling-stars-like-mark-wahlberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/50273\/","title":{"rendered":"Play Dirty Director Shane Black on Wrangling Stars Like Mark Wahlberg"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tShane Black<\/a>\u2018s name is synonymous with some of the most macho movies ever made, including \u201cLethal Weapon,\u201d \u201cThe Nice Guys\u201d and \u201cThe Last Boy Scout.\u201d His newest film, \u201cPlay Dirty<\/a>,\u201d now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, is no exception. A contemporary interpretation of Donald E. Westlake\u2019s classic \u201cParker\u201d novels about a high-stakes robber, the film stars Mark Wahlberg<\/a> and LaKeith Stanfield as thieves aiming to pull the biggest international heist of their lives. Yet a globetrotting action movie starring two alpha dogs was well-trodden territory for Black, who has spent his life working with larger-than-life A-listers like Robert Downey Jr., Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Russell Crowe. Needless to say, he\u2019s figured out the method to maintain control on set when he\u2019s in the director\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve been absolutely blessed to work with some of the \u2018magic people,’\u201d Black says. \u201c\u2018Magic people,\u2019 to me, are those that you hire and say, \u2018There\u2019s that actor that does that thing. There he is, doing that thing that we paid him for.\u2019 But the more interesting thing has always been when you hire them, knowing you don\u2019t quite know what you\u2019re going to get \u2014\u00a0you just know it\u2019s going to be great. I\u2019ve worked with a number of those, chief among them Robert Downey Jr., who was just lightning in a bottle. You\u2019re not quite sure what you\u2019re going to get. And I\u2019m happy to take credit for it when suddenly it\u2019s on the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWahlberg showed his magic in a unique way, coming in with a preparedness that reflects his notorious work ethic.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMark showed up having memorized the script,\u201d Black says. \u201cHe knew every nuance of it. He didn\u2019t sit before, mumbling \u2014 he knew all the lines, so then you could vary from that. If someone wants to improv, and there were some people on the set who were particularly prone to that, Mark keeps up. Mark just jumps at it. He sees a chance to fire back. That sort of being in the moment is what I like about Mark in particular, because as much preparation as he does, when he steps onto set, he lets go and is in the now. I think that\u2019s an actor\u2019s greatest asset: to let the previous work inform the performance, but not be thinking about it when you\u2019re in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMany of Black\u2019s scripts are defined by a bickering buddy dynamic, and \u201cPlay Dirty,\u201d which he wrote with Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi, is no different. Wahlberg\u2019s foil is played by Stanfield, and Black, an actor himself, says the \u201cAtlanta\u201d alum approaches the craft in a completely different way.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was talking to LaKeith about acting and I said, \u2018I was always a little bit nervous. I felt like I couldn\u2019t quite get there.’\u201d Black says. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018I don\u2019t understand that, because to me you have all these choices. You just pick one. You\u2019re at the hub of a wheel, and all these spokes are going out to the edge, to the behavior of the character. You go, \u201cWhich one do I want to take?\u201d\u2018 It\u2019s like that frustrating musician: when you can\u2019t write music and you say, \u2018How do you do it?\u2019 He goes, \u2018Oh my God, there are melodies in the air. You just pluck one.\u2019 It\u2019s like, dude, it\u2019s not that easy, you know? But to him it is, because he\u2019s just an inquisitive soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield in \u201cPlay Dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9MGM\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile he\u2019s quick to cite the talents of his cast and crew, Black\u2019s reputation in Hollywood as a nice guy who gets results precedes him. Jules Daly, who produced \u201cPlay Dirty\u201d as well as big action features like \u201cThe Tomorrow War\u201d and \u201cGhosted,\u201d says that the chance to work with Black was what first drew her to the project.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s talk about Shane Black being a bit reserved, being shy, being insular, being brilliant but being those things \u2014\u00a0and we had the greatest time,\u201d Daly\u00a0says. \u201cWorking with anyone who\u2019s a writer and director for a producer is just such a pleasure because you can be on the go, you can be sitting at video village and make a change. We also had [co-writers] Anthony and Chuck with us. So it wasn\u2019t like we were sending pages overnight back to the U.S. and waking up to them and they weren\u2019t good enough the next day. But sitting with the three of them and making the movie was just an absolute pleasure and a laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDaly also says that Black\u2019s previous hits made one specific part of her job easier.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMore so than any director I\u2019ve worked with, all cast wants to work with Shane Black,\u201d she says. \u201cThere was nobody that we couldn\u2019t get on the phone, no one that didn\u2019t want to be in the movie. It was all just about scheduling. That was more remarkable than almost any director I\u2019ve worked with. It was just such an easy movie to cast and the cast is delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite the success of his previous work, Black says it\u2019s critical for him to remain focused by toning down the outside noise.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShutting off the hype is necessary in the same way that you can\u2019t think about the money,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re hired to write a script, you can\u2019t think, \u2018Oh my God, this page was this much money, it better be good.\u2019 Once you take on the job, the job becomes it. That\u2019s all there is, the focus on and attention to bringing whatever instinct you have to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd sometimes that comes with having to trust your gut and not get too meta. For example, many of Black\u2019s most famous movies are set during Christmas, from \u201cLethal Weapon\u201d to \u201cKiss Kiss Bang Bang\u201d to \u201cIron Man 3.\u201d But even though Black knew a yuletide feel in \u201cPlay Dirty\u201d would get a nod of recognition from fans, at first he didn\u2019t want to lean into it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPeople often talk about the Christmas motif that I sometimes have in movies,\u201d Black says. \u201cOnce people notice that, that jig is up. I would do it, but at the same time, I was thinking, \u2018Now that it\u2019s sort of a one-trick pony that people are actually noticing, it\u2019s actually part of what you called \u201cthe hype,\u201d then it\u2019s kind of lost its luster.\u2019 Now, in this movie, I wanted to do winter in New York City, and I thought, \u2018Oh my God, here we go again.\u2019 We could set it in February on Presidents\u2019 Day, but you know, why? We\u2019re in New York, it\u2019s winter, might as well be Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat sense of adventure is what Black says keeps him making movies.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI tend to look for things that, especially as I get older, are arguments to myself to still believe in a sense of wonder, to still believe in writing the next chapter,\u201d he says. \u201cThemes that are important seem to be people who get knocked down and find a reason \u2014 despite themselves \u2014 to get up and continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch the \u201cPlay Dirty\u201d trailer below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shane Black\u2018s name is synonymous with some of the most macho movies ever made, including \u201cLethal Weapon,\u201d \u201cThe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46,38805,38806,38807],"class_list":{"0":"post-50273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-mark-wahlberg","12":"tag-play-dirty","13":"tag-shane-black"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}