Wahlberg hails chemistry with ‘Uncharted’ co-star Tom Holland

By Guillermo Azabal

Los Angeles, Feb 16 (EFE).- Mark Wahlberg had never worked with Tom Holland prior to co-starring with him in the American action-adventure film “Uncharted,” although their on-screen chemistry may suggest otherwise.

“I had a wonderful time working with Tom. He’s kind of like my little brother,” the veteran American actor said in an interview with Efe.

Wahlberg, now 50, is a long-established Hollywood icon, while Holland, a 25-year-old English actor, has attained superstardom through his roles as Spider-Man in a series of Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films.

The two actors now are basking in the glow of the positive early critical reaction to and initial box-office success of “Uncharted,” a film directed by Ruben Fleischer that is to hit theaters in North America on Friday.

“Lots of great fun and humor,” Wahlberg said of the rapport between the two main characters. “We have amazing chemistry and people really enjoy all of our banter back and forth. And there’s a real kind of cat-and-mouse game going on, and it’s lots of suspense, which I think people are really going to enjoy.”

High expectations surround its North American release among fans of both the likenamed videogame saga that inspired the film and of its two lead actors.

The picture tells of the modern-day search for a treasure that was amassed by 16th-century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and lost in a remote place 500 years ago by the House of Moncada, a Catalan noble family that funded the original expedition.

Wahlberg plays the role of Victor “Sully” Sullivan, a veteran treasure hunter, while Holland portrays Nathan Drake; the two pair up to find the “biggest treasure never found” while also trying to track down Drake’s long-lost brother Sam.

Their quest takes them on an intense trans-oceanic adventure to locales that include an exotic tropical beach and Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter.

“Sully” is a “veteran of treasure-hunting” and a person who “kind of lives in that gray area,” Wahlberg told Efe. “He can’t be trusted. He moves to the beat of his own drum. But also, when chipped away, you realize that he does have a heart and he and Nate become quite the team.”

Movie-goers “are going to see the most exciting adventure brought to the big screen in a very long time. Action, adventure, thrills, treasure-hunting, humor, heart, emotion,” Wahlberg said.

“And anybody who loves the videogame, obviously they’re going to see their beloved characters come to life on the big screen. And for anybody who doesn’t know the videogame, they’re going to be able to enjoy it just as much because this is a film for the entire family.”

“I would compare it to one of my favorite all-time cinematic experiences when I saw ‘Indiana Jones’ in the theater, so this is a must-see in the theater.”

Buoyed by a captivating plot and sprinkled with humor, the film features dramatic scenes carried by its two leading men and a mixture of visual effects and real props.

“We tried to make it as realistic as possible, so we built a real ship, we have real cargo planes. We had a lot of stuff that we could actually use as opposed to just being on green screen,” the actor said, referring to a visual-effects technique where two images or video streams are layered, or composited, together.

“But it’s also the magic of movies, so a little bit of both. But I always enjoy the process.”

During the interview, Wahlberg also spoke about his first experience on the same set with Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, whose character Santiago Moncada is a ruthless treasure hunter and the last descendant of the Moncada family.

“He and I have known each other for a while, but we’ve never got to work together, so it was very exciting for me. He’s obviously one of the great actors, so it was an amazing experience,” Wahlberg said, adding that Banderas served as his interpreter while the cast and crew were on location in Spain.

American actresses Tati Gabrielle, a cast member of the successful Netflix series “You,” and Sophia Ali, known for her work on the medical drama series “Grey’s Anatomy,” also have prominent roles in “Uncharted.”