On the humid, Atlanta set of By Any Means, the man once defined by a Calvin Klein silhouette has effectively vanished. Mark Wahlberg, now 53, is cutting a striking figure that feels more like a ghost from 1966 than a modern movie star. To inhabit Gregory Scarpa—the notorious Colombo family hitman—Wahlberg has undergone an out of this world transformation. Behind layers of heavy prosthetics, including a broadened nose and a thickened chin, the actor’s familiar features have melted away. Dressed in a sharp, grey period suit with thick sideburns and a slicked-back mane, he is no longer the Boston icon; he is the “Grim Reaper” of the mafia, walking the deep South with a lethal, beyond competition intensity.
Directed by Elegance Bratton, the film tackles a daunting true chapter of historical noir: the secretive, off-the-books alliance between J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and the mob to solve the murders of civil rights activists. The fizzing dynamic on set between Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who plays a young Black agent, promises a prime level of dramatic depth. This isn’t just a standard crime jam; it’s a gritty exploration of 1966 Mississippi, where the lines between law enforcement and organized crime blurred in the hunt for the KKK members who murdered Vernon Dahmer. Wahlberg isn’t just a lead here; he’s a producer navigating a dark, complex history that demands more than just a line reading.
Grounding this performance required a caloric grit that has become a fixture of Wahlberg’s method. To achieve the lived-in bulk of a middle-aged enforcer, the actor ditched his monastic fitness routine and began “eating like a crazy person” for months. This physical jam is a striking departure for a man known for 4 a.m. workouts, yet it’s a necessary sacrifice for the role. Clad in that oversized suit, his newfound weight gives Scarpa a muscular, menacing presence that feels authentic to the era. It’s the true fighter mentality—Wahlberg understands that a mob enforcer shouldn’t look like he’s spent his life on a treadmill, but like he’s spent it in dimly lit backrooms and heavy sedans.
This isn’t the first time he’s played the long game with his health for the sake of a beyond competition performance. We saw the precedent with Father Stu, where he famously inhaled 11,000 calories a day to play the bloated, ailing priest. He knows the daunting toll these radical shifts take on a metabolism in its fifties, yet he remains a patient talent who prioritizes the character over the vanity of a heartthrob image. By allowing his movie-star jawline to be obscured by prosthetics and extra pounds, he’s securing a victorious transition into the type of transformative character acting that defines the industry’s elite.
As we stand in February 2026, Mark Wahlberg has officially entered his era as a rugged elder statesman of the screen. He is currently at the top of his prime precisely because he refuses to stay in the fitness-mogul lane, choosing instead to produce and star in stories that require him to be unrecognizable. From the smoky streets of 1960s Atlanta to the gritty noir aesthetics of By Any Means, he is proving that the most luxurious asset an actor can possess is the courage to shed his own skin. In the end, Wahlberg’s commitment to the hitman’s history confirms what insiders have long suspected: he’s not just playing the part, he’s burying the star to find the soul.