ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with The Family Plan stars Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan about the action comedy movie. The duo spoke about acting with a baby and their approaches to action sequences. The Family Plan is now streaming on Apple TV+.
“Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) loves his quiet suburban life as a devoted husband, father of three, and successful car salesman,” reads the movie‘s synopsis. But that’s only half the story. Decades earlier, he was an elite government assassin tasked with eliminating the world’s deadliest threats.”
Tyler Treese: Mark, early on, there are some really inventive and fun action sequences where you’re trying to be stealthy so your family doesn’t wake up and learn about your double life. How was it filming those sequences? They’re very different from what we usually see in an action movie.
Mark Wahlberg: It was a lot of fun. I mean, obviously tough to balance that when the only other person who is aware of what’s going on is an 18-month-old. [Laughs]. He’s the only one who really is aware of who dad is in real life. But it was a lot of fun. I really just loved what was on the page, and I felt like if we had the right actors and great chemistry, then that would really shine through and translate to the screen and make something that was super enjoyable for the entire family. It’s really relatable, whether you’re an adult or a child, a parent or not — people, people can relate.
Michelle, Zoe Colletti is so great in this movie and has such a bright future, plus, she looks like she could really be your daughter. What impressed you the most about just working with her?
Michelle Monaghan: Well, you’re right. I’m glad we’re talking about Zoe. Some of my favorite scenes in the movie are actually with Zoe and Mark because they’re so believable. That scene underneath the bleachers is just so good. She’s really a natural performer. She’s just very authentic.
She’s also great at improv, and she’s a really kind person. I really have to tip my hat to her, because she brought in the third child, which is Max, and really bonded with the baby, and then Van bonded with it, and then that, in turn, allowed us to really bond with the baby. By the end of it, we were a tight little family. She was really a huge part of it. She’s a great, talented girl.
Mark Wahlberg: For me, especially, having a daughter who’s 20 and off to college and going through a lot of stuff, it was very relatable for me. It didn’t take a lot of pretend for me to be right there in those moments with her, and the stuff that she was going through with her relationship … she’s fantastic.
A lot of my favorite moments were from the road trip with the small family moments. Mark, there’s a fun scene where you rap along to “Ice Ice Baby.” Vanilla Ice was one of your contemporaries back in the Marky Mark days. How was it recording that?
Mark Wahlberg: It was lovely, and I hope one day to see him doing “Good Vibrations” somewhere. [Laughs]. With as much enthusiasm as I did his song.
Michelle Monaghan: Yes. I wanna be there for that.
Michelle, I loved your fight sequence with Maggie Q, and obviously, you’re both very experienced in the action genre. That fight’s unique because your character is athletic, but she doesn’t really have that background of being highly trained to fight, so you’re overmatched. How was filming that?
Michelle Monaghan: I was really lucky to get to do it with Maggie Q. I’ve known Maggie since Mission: Impossible 3, so we had a really nice relationship then. She is a brilliant actress and so athletic and physical and really great at stunts.
So to be able to get to do that whole sequence with her, which was really fun … we really trained hard for it and, on the day, we got to have fun with it, which was adding those comedic elements for all the reasons you just said. Not really adept at doing all the fighting, so it was a really fun experience to get to work with her on it.
Mark Wahlberg: Not only did they outdo the guys, they were also outdoing each other. I wasn’t there when they were shooting the fight sequence, but I heard the first whole day they were just doing these wide shots, and you couldn’t even tell that it was them, but they insisted on doing it themselves. And I’m like, I got two guys that look just like me. [Laughs].
They’re just 20 years younger, and they’re more fit and more durable. I put those guys in every chance I get. These two are doing all the wide shots! You couldn’t even tell that it was them. [Laughs]. I mean, that’s incredible. Showing off! My God. [Laughs].