You probably didn’t recognize Donnie Wahlberg as Danny Reagan from Blue Bloods while watching The Sixth Sense. But he was there, and he was in a bad mood due of his role in this film.
Donnie Wahlberg went above and above to land a role in the cult film The Sixth Sense.
First, he struggled to persuade the film’s director, M. Night Shyamalan, that he could pull it off. Donnie was too old for his character, so he offered to portray Vincent Gray for free provided Shyamalan helped him get the part.
Second, after believing in Donnie and casting him, Shyamalan went through hell to perfect the film. “Don’t actors do that all the time?” you may wonder. – and you’d be right.
But how many performers go through weeks of physical and psychological torment for a three-minute scene in a film? Yes, I thought so.
Donnie played Vincent Gray in The Sixth Sense, a former mental patient who has struggled with his inner demons for the most of his life.
He blames his former psychiatrist, Dr. Crowe (Bruce Willis), for failing him as a child and wrecking his life. Vincent k1lls Dr. Crowe and then shoots himself after finally breaking… Everything happened in three minutes.
Despite how brief this sequence was, it was crucial to the plot, and Donnie took his role extremely seriously.
To play this miserable and desperate man and show the full depravity of Vincent Gray’s troubled mind, Wahlberg embarked on the most uncomfortable of journeys: he became Vincent Gray himself.
Donnie was overly energetic and full of life, which led him down the path of sadness. He was in such good form, continuously working out, that he starved himself and lost 43 pounds.
He abandoned his wife and children, locking himself in a small, filthy apartment with no money or means of communication with the outside world.
“I went hungry.” I’d fast for two days and then eat just steamed cabbage and drink beet juice. I’d chew gum all day and stroll around the streets for hours to burn off thousands of calories. I hadn’t showered in weeks. I was starving. I was feeling down. “I cut off my life to prepare for the role,” Donnie said twenty years later.
Donnie Wahlberg’s weeks-long torment was really effective. When he arrived on set, even Shyamalan didn’t know him and went straight past him.
Even after the film was released, no one believed Donnie played Vincent Gray, which demonstrates the power of his transformation.
“Every day for years people would say, ‘Dude, I didn’t know that was you,'” Donnie said.
If you’ve seen The Sixth Sense or Blue Bloods, you’ll notice that Danny Reagan and Vincent Gray are played by the same actor.
Aside from the bizarrely Bale-like overtones of Wahlberg’s dark trip, it’s a terrific illustration of how a talented and determined performer can leave a big influence…
Even if they only have three minutes on the screen.
Source: USA Today
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