Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry in “The Union.”
Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry have a funny exchange early in the new Netflix original action comedy The Union, where Wahlberg’s unassuming New Jersey construction worker accepts Berry’s government agent invitation to join her covert spy organization.
In the scene, Mike McKenna (Wahlberg) refers to himself as “The Jersey James Bond,” while Roxanne Hall (Berry) affirms the name and calls Mike “Double O Go F—k Yourself.”
The scene typifies the sort of East Coast attitude the Boston native Wahlberg aimed to bring to The Union from the project’s inception. Instead of featuring a debonair, tuxedo-wearing, martini-swirling undercover agent like you see in the 007 films, Wahlberg and his creative team wanted to ground his spy by having him come from a rough-and-tumble working-class environment.
In short, Wahlberg told me in a recent Zoom conversation, he wanted Mike’s life to be relatable to audience.
“It certainly is relatable for me, Wahlberg said. “We came up with this idea sitting around and coming to terms with the fact that, ‘I don’t ever think they’re going to offer me James Bond, right? But wouldn’t it be cool if they did? What would that look like?’ That’s how the conversation started among my producer partner and the guys on the team. So, we pitched it and got a great response and here we are today.”
Debuting on Netflix on Friday, The Union finds Roxanne returning to New Jersey to reunite with Mike, a former high school boyfriend whom she hasn’t seen in 25 years. Even though Roxanne knows Mike has zero experience as a spy, she’s also aware that he’s physically fit and lives with no fear, especially since he’s used to standing on construction beams 1,000 feet in the air.
The stakes to get Mike to join The Union are also high, since a CIA turncoat has stolen a data drive that identifies everyone who has served a Western-allied country an instant target—including local police and the nation’s military as well as agents with MI5, MI6, the FBI and the CIA.
As a last resort to recover the drive before it hits the black market, Roxanne and her Union boss, Tom Brennan (J.K. Simmons), tell Mike that they need “somebody with no history” to seize it. Even though Mike has the sort of physical agility and no-nonsense attitude to pull off the job, he reluctantly accepts his mission.
Wahlberg Says Berry Came To ‘The Union’ Prepared
While the East Coast accent comes naturally to Mark Wahlberg, Halle Berry—who was born and raised in Cleveland—needed to train herself to sound like a New Jersey native.
Wahlberg said he didn’t need to give Berry any pointers on the accent because she was already good to go the day she arrived on set.
“Halle needs no coaching and comes in so prepared. She’s as enthusiastic about what’s next as she was when she first started if not more,” Wahlberg said. “That’s one of the things that we have in common. We’re super grateful that we have this opportunity and super excited about the fact that we still get to do something that we love and are passionate about. We both came from humble beginnings and still have those pinch-me moments.”
Given her passion and commitment to the work, there was nobody better for the role of Roxanne than Berry, Wahlberg added.
“To command the respect and authority and also the poise, the toughness and humor she has, any guy or gal out there can definitely understand why me as this character would be willing to wait 25 years and hope that she would through the door,” Wahlberg said.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 12: Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry attend the Los Angeles Premiere … [+]
Naturally, there’s a lot of hand-to-hand combat in The Union, which Wahlberg has experienced in several films throughout his career. And while Berry hasn’t starred in as many action films as Wahlberg, the actor said the level of skill she displayed in films like John Wick 3: Parabellum and her boxing movie Bruised was no fluke.
In fact, Wahlberg noted, that Berry taught him a valuable lesson while filming.
“I would say—and this is complete transparency—that she taught me not to leave my guard down,” Wahlberg said. “When we were shooting a fight scene during the training sequence—where basically we were mixing it up MMA style with the 4 oz. gloves—I don’t remember what happened other than I got hit with a body shot and it kind of knocked the wind out of me.”
Wahlberg said the shot came as a surprise, even though his dukes were up in The Fighter and other movies that involved physical combat.
“Maybe I always knew it was coming [in other fight scenes] and was always prepared and was always on guard, but she hit me with a shot that gave me a little shake,” Wahlberg said. “That hadn’t happened to me before.”
Directed by Julian Farino and also starring Jackie Earle Haley, Mike Colter, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica De Gouw, Alice Lee and Patch Darragh, The Union—rated PG-13—premieres on Netflix on Friday.
