Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry talk with a roundtable of Audacy hosts about their new Netflix film, 'The Union'
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00:00Well, we're very happy to be talking to you. I'm Ali from Klein Ali Show on KROQ in LA
00:07and obviously the two of you have been friends for a long time. How's it been sharing the
00:11screen together for the first time? Any petty arguments you want to share that you got into?
00:16You know, I think there was so much bickering and bantering between the two characters.
00:22The great thing was they really kind of picked up right when they left off. That 25 year
00:27gap of them not being together. But she knows how to pick and poke and get you going. But
00:37that was the great thing about the relationship. There's so much great chemistry there that
00:39I think people really, really, that's what makes it different and kind of elevates the
00:43movie to all these kind of other movies that you've seen in the show.
00:47And my character stayed eternally mad that he didn't leave back in high school. Like
00:51she's mad. She comes back with the chip on her shoulder. She's mad that he didn't do
00:55what he should have done, which, you know, he didn't do it until she was mad. And I think
01:02that was a fun through line to carry through our work.
01:06We were talking about the sequel earlier and she's still talking about how long she's going
01:10to make Mike wait.
01:11Well, I mean, we should, we should be so lucky, but if it does well enough and we get out
01:19asked to do one, like, I think we have plans for it. We've thought about it.
01:29I'm Mike Adam from WNAW New York. With the government agency that you're a part of in
01:35this movie, being tight lipped and, and, you know, being able to keep secrets is important.
01:43So in real life, would you be able to be a part of this agency? Are you guys like the
01:49leak in real life? Are you just letting like secrets, family secrets slip all the time?
01:55I'm not good at keeping secrets, but hopefully if people are smart enough to recognize what
02:00your strong suits are, then they would put you in that department as opposed to having
02:04to hold some sort of valuable information that is, you know, likely going to get leaked
02:08to whoever's around and I'm kind of bored and want to talk to and talk about it with.
02:13Did you tell all my secrets? I told you, I didn't. I almost did.
02:18The stuff I was texting you?
02:19No, no, no, no.
02:21Okay.
02:21No, no, no, no.
02:22You know, you just told me something. I'll say, wait, hold a minute.
02:26No more confiding.
02:27I'm a bolt. I'm a bolt. I can keep a secret for a very long time.
02:32Yeah, my wife's like that. She always gets mad at me.
02:35I don't like, and I don't like, I can't keep surprises or secrets either.
02:39You don't even like having the knowledge.
02:41You're like, just don't bring it my way.
02:43No.
02:43Yes.
02:43I love that.
02:44Good to know.
02:45Don't flirt with me with that.
02:47She's like, check that.
02:49That's so funny.
02:50Jane from Odyssey, San Francisco in Portland.
02:53I loved the comedic timing in the movie.
02:56I loved your guys' chemistry and I just wanted to know, so much of it felt improvised and
03:01like you were just loving being around each other and, you know, riffing back and forth.
03:05Did you have to like start some takes over because you're like, okay, wait, that was
03:09actually too funny and I have to stop.
03:12No, when they were funny, we kept them.
03:16And if we laughed, well, that's what our characters would do.
03:18I don't think we ruined too many that way, but you had a lot of good one-liners.
03:23He was always saving the best line for the end.
03:26Like, you know what I mean?
03:27He always would end the scenes with like the best little buttons.
03:31Really?
03:32I thought I did when I said, I said, okay.
03:35Yeah, I'm like the Jersey, James Bond.
03:37And then she comes back with, yeah, double O, go fuck yourself.
03:42I wrote that one down.
03:45That's stealing the scene there.
03:47Poet Taylor, host of Midday Shenanigans out of DC.
03:51My question is one of the dopest things about this movie is this 25 year gap where you were
03:55waiting for this second chance with your sweetheart.
03:58So can we talk about the time in your life that you're grateful that you got a second
04:03chance, maybe to make a first impression or a second chance at something you tried at?
04:07Well, something did just dawn on me.
04:09With most people, they probably don't want to see somebody after 25 years.
04:15You got no worries right here.
04:18Nothing's changed.
04:19Nothing.
04:20Absolutely nothing.
04:22Right?
04:23Not true.
04:25God, who would I want a second chance at?
04:31I don't know.
04:31I always feel like I think if you could go back and do something, but we just know that
04:35that's not the case, right?
04:36So you kind of learn from the mistakes that you made.
04:38And I think those are the things that really help you grow and learn and be better at everything
04:42else that you're doing in the future.
04:44But I do have a story that I'd like to tell.
04:46And that's about Spike Lee.
04:47I auditioned to play his wife in Jungle Fever, and he gave me another chance to go in the
04:51bathroom.
04:52I told him, I can be the crack hoe.
04:54Really, that's what you should let me audition for.
04:57He goes, no, you're my wife.
04:58I said, no, I'm the hoe.
04:59Let me go wash my makeup off.
05:01I'll show you a different version of me.
05:02And he gave me a chance to have a second chance at auditioning for his film.
05:06And that ended up being my first movie role.
05:08But because he gave me a second chance to do what I really wanted to do.
05:11Isn't there anything she can't do?
05:15Can you play crack hoe, Mark?
05:18I haven't tried yet.
05:22But he was Dirk Diggler.
05:24And that was still cracking.
05:33And he did some homing.
05:34I beat him in the van.
05:36Pickup truck to the parking lot.
05:38Yeah, so I did.
05:43For reminding you.
05:45Hi, I'm Julia, host of The Julia Show, based in Detroit and syndicated nationally.
05:51One of my favorite little pieces of this movie was the end credits of the throwback photos of you guys.
05:58So obviously you've known each other for a while.
06:00But what did you learn about each other while filming The Union?
06:05Well, well, it's pretty clear.
06:08I think with me, it's like she's a mom first.
06:13The kids are the top priority.
06:15My wife is, you know, she's a mom, right?
06:19And so, you know, to see that she can balance all of those things and this career and being Halle Berry.
06:26But becoming Roxanne and doing all these things.
06:30And I know it's not easy, but she makes it look easy.
06:34Well, thank you, Mark.
06:35But the same for you.
06:36This guy, we'd be, our first AD would say, rolling.
06:39If one of his kids called in that moment, we'd be on a roll waiting to go.
06:43And he'd be like, hello.
06:45Say hi to Halle.
06:46Say hi to everybody.
06:47Like he's relentless at that.
06:48He is very available to his children.
06:53He was talking to them all the time, all hours of the night.
06:56But if I were to show them other people on the face time, they're not going to call me back either.
07:01They're going to interrupt all working.
07:03Because they get annoyed.
07:04They don't want to see me.
07:05Well, they wonder every time.
07:06No, they don't.
07:08But it was that.
07:08And it was also his, he does a hundred things, too.
07:12Like all these businesses and stuff.
07:14He's flying somewhere and he comes back.
07:15But he comes back prepared.
07:17Like you think somebody doing all the stuff he's doing, he'd kind of be phoning it in.
07:21But he really, he knows the stuff.
07:23He's prepared.
07:23And it was nice to work with people that are professional.
07:25Because it doesn't always happen today.
07:28One thing that always gives me anxiety in movies like The Union is you guys are like running around like crazy.
07:36You're jumping out of cars.
07:37And I'm like, no one's eating.
07:38Isn't anyone hungry by now?
07:40Like you've just been going, going, going for hours.
07:42When you're shooting an action movie like this, what is fueling you?
07:46Is there a go-to snack?
07:47Or are you like, I can't eat anything until I jump out of this car a few more times?
07:51Like what is the backstage diet?
07:53What is that situation like?
07:55I have the same, I've eaten the same food for five times a day for, yeah, I don't know, 20 years now.
08:02Very boring, very bland.
08:04I like that.
08:04Chicken out of a container and sweet potato.
08:07Or depending on what time of day it is.
08:09But yeah, always trying to.
08:10They don't bring you your own?
08:11You have to bring your own from home?
08:14You know, a little finicky.
08:15He's got a chef.
08:16You know, he's got, you know, that's how he rolls.
08:19He's not bringing it in Tupperware.
08:21He's not doing it.
08:23That's what I thought.
08:24I was like, wow.
08:25Yeah, it is in Tupperware actually.
08:27In a Yeti.
08:30So, but he's not, he's not cooking what he's good at.
08:36He's just making chicken and turkey burgers.
08:40I'm the same.
08:40Food is fuel.
08:41I'm not a foodie at all.
08:42I just want the calories.
08:43I want the protein and I want to be done with it.
08:46I'm not really a big foodie.
08:48We did have a dinner scene at the end where we started drinking wine.
08:52We had too much wine.
08:53But we never, we ended up reshooting the ending.
08:56Being parents, becoming parents.
08:57Would you say that's changed you at all acting wise?
09:01Like what roles you take on?
09:02Just how you view the cinema experience.
09:07Has it changed you at all?
09:10Yeah.
09:11For sure.
09:12I mean, I still try to, whether it be with my family or my faith.
09:15I still try to kind of maintain that artistic integrity where if it's
09:20something that I want to do, even though I may have some explaining to
09:24do and try to finesse the situation a little bit.
09:26But as I get old, I've also embraced being older by playing a dad.
09:29Like a lot of guys, you know, they don't want to or actresses as well
09:34don't want to, you know, necessarily play their age.
09:35I look forward to playing a grandfather.
09:37I look forward to, you know, if I'm lucky enough to still get great
09:40parts, play other roles and age gracefully.
09:44Yeah, I feel the same way.
09:45It certainly changed me as a mother.
09:47But what it also connected me to was I don't worry what my children will
09:52think about what I do.
09:54You know, if it's not appropriate for them to see, then they don't see it.
09:57I still do what I want to do as an artist.
10:00I want to instill in them.
10:01You have to follow your own dream, follow your passion, do what makes you
10:06tick. And part of being a mom doesn't mean that I'm just a mom, that that
10:09defines me.
10:10I'm still an artist.
10:11I'm still a woman.
10:11I still have aspirations outside of being a mother.
10:14And so I love that they know that I'm me. Before I was a mom, I was me.
10:20And I try to stay connected to that so that my life doesn't turn into
10:23I'm only a mom.
10:25That's a wonderful part of what I, who I am, but it's a part of it.
10:28I try not to lose the other parts of myself.
10:30I love that so much.
10:32So we have to ask because it was a little hinted at, in the hopes of a
10:38sequel.
10:39So you have three days and then they need you in Marrakesh.
10:42Yes.
10:43So what happens in those three days?
10:44No sex.
10:46A lot of cat and mouse and play.
11:01Because that's the fun of it.
11:03Like in any relationship, when you first meet someone, you want to play
11:06that for as long as you can.
11:08Because once you do it, then you've done it.
11:09And then, you know, then what?
11:10So I think the longer you can toy with that and play with that, the
11:16better.
11:16Or you can do it again.
11:18Get into that routine.
11:21There's a line in the movie where Rox turns to you and she's like,
11:27how come you can't see the magic that everybody sees in you?
11:30And it got me to thinking, as you look back at your career, was there
11:34someone that saw something in you or a superpower, a skill that you
11:37had before you saw it?
11:38Yes.
11:39I had, I was studying acting at Second City in Chicago and I was just
11:43doing it for fun.
11:44I was a model and I graduated high school and I didn't, I was trying
11:47to stall time before going to college.
11:50Really just, I was, worked so hard in high school that I needed a
11:53break.
11:53And so I was just taking this class for fun.
11:55And one of our teachers there said, you know, have you thought about
11:58being an actor?
11:59And I was like, me?
11:59I said, no, I'm not.
12:01I'm going to go to college and be a journalist.
12:03No, no.
12:03And she said, you really should consider this.
12:06I see something natural about you, your timing.
12:08You should, you should do this.
12:10And it took me about a month of grappling with that.
12:13And then I thought, maybe I should.
12:16She, she, I respect this institution.
12:18She saw something.
12:18I should give it a try.
12:19And that's what led me down this path because somebody saw something
12:22in me that I hadn't even thought of for myself.
12:25Wow.
12:25I hadn't even thought of it.
12:26Very cool.
12:27With me, I say, I always give credit to Penny Marshall.
12:31I mean, she gave me my first role.
12:34I was, you know, I had limited success in the music and we don't need to
12:38get into that.
12:39Don't drag me through the mud right now.
12:42But, but I met a lot of people because of that success in and around
12:46Hollywood.
12:47And, you know, there was opportunity there, but not an opportunity that
12:50would have really afforded me the ability to have a real career.
12:53It was kind of like, okay, let them kind of, you know, get a one-off,
12:56two-off part.
12:56And, you know, that would be it.
12:58And she said, basically this, you're an actor anyway.
13:02And I just met her because I was a big fan of hers and I had grown up
13:06watching her and she wanted to meet me.
13:08And next thing I know, I was auditioning for the movie.
13:10I read four different characters in the room that day.
13:12And then I flew myself out for a screen test and then she got the part
13:16and then I didn't want to do anything else.
13:17So I give all the credit to her.
13:19I'm glad they did.
13:21We wouldn't have the union.
13:22We wouldn't have this magical movie.
13:24Thank you so much for your time.
13:26Thank you so much.
13:28So great.