Mark Wahlberg and his co-star from The Fighter, Christian Bale
December 16th 2010 06:18
Mark Wahlberg and his co-star from The Fighter, Christian Bale, grace the cover of this week's December 20, 2010, issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, on newsstands now.
Wahlberg and Bale join an exclusive group of non-athletes and non-coaches to be so honored - a list that includes Stephen Colbert, Bob Hope, Ed Sullivan, Steve McQueen and Arnold Schwarzenegger in addition to former presidents John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
"As somebody who always dreamed of being a professional athlete, to be on the cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is an amazing accomplishment," Wahlberg said. It is the 134th time that boxing has taken top honors on the cover of the weekly issue, the fifth most "covered" sport ever.
The years that Wahlberg spent training and sparring in preparation for the role - he would fly in his trainers and equipment to the sets of his other movies - provide an authenticity to The Fighter that few sports movies before it can match.
As Wahlberg stated, "There are many, many boxing movies, and I love most of them. But I knew that the thing that would set us apart was if the fights looked more real, and I looked more like a boxer than anyone else who's done it in the past.... [For The Fighter] I spent more money paying my trainers and having them travel with me than I got paid, by a good half a million dollars."
Other sport movies of the decade are mentioned in the magazine as well. You can review the cover piece by visiting Sports Illustrated.
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