Justin Bieber Preparing for Lead Role in Movie With Mark Wahlberg
Justin Bieber, 18-year-old Canadian crooner, is gearing up for his acting debut in a basketball film that he will star in alongside actor Mark Wahlberg.
Although Wahlberg initially told MTV about the upcoming film last year, Bieber recently explained that there were a few setbacks with the movie that has kept fans from seeing him debut as a lead actor in a motion picture.
"I'm still working on this movie with Mark Wahlberg," Bieber told MTV News last week. "I don't know what the deal is. Turns out they're rewriting the script or something, trying to make it fit better and stuff."
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Still, Bieber said he would like to brush up on some of his basketball skills before filming for the movie begins.
"I got to get back in the gym. I haven't played basketball in a while," Bieber admitted in an MTV report. "I did like a little charity basketball game at Shaq's house for Pencils of Promise. We did a little charity basketball game, and I won."
According to Wahlberg, the film will be similar to the 1986 movie "Color of Money," directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Tom Cruise, in which a young cocky protege is mentored by an older man who teaches him the ins and outs of pool. Wahlberg told MTV that he initially wanted to play the younger protege in the film before Bieber was cast for the part.
"Wait till you see me and Bieber in the flick. Think of like 'The Color of Money,'" the actor told MTV last year. "So I get this call from Paramount [where they tell me about the story about] an old guy and a young guy. I'm like, 'Cool, let's get Jack [Nicholson]. Let's get Robert De Niro. Let's get Robert Duvall.' And they go, 'What about Garrett Hedlund?"
However, the idea came about to cast Bieber for the part after he showed off his basketball skills in a celebrity basketball game during NBA All-Star weekend last year. Wahlberg spoke about Bieber's excitement concerning the idea.
"He loves the idea," Wahlberg told MTV. "He's been sending me video, he sent me a video of himself, and, yeah, I think he's really talented."
