Mark Walhberg, currently basking in the glow of critical praise for his role in the Oscar nominated The Fighter, has tried his hand as a producer and executive producer in the past, and is now set to juggle several projects at the same time behind the scenes, including a potential sequel to his boxing biopic and the newly announced Universal project
Bait and Switch.
Variety say the studio have purchased a spec script from
Matthew J ONeill, a writers assistant and judge at Script Pimp, for whom this film will represent his debut as a lead writer. Walhberg is expected to appear as an actor in what has been described only as an action-comedy, though no other details have been announced. Wahlberg will be joined in his production duties by Scott Stuber (Stuber Pictures), John Jacobs (Smart Entertainment) and Stephen Levinson (Leverage Management). So far the only executive producer to have been named is Zac Unterman whose only crew credits include Blades of Glory and the passingly amusing Beverly Hills Chihuahua. In the meantime, Walhberg will have an opportunity to warm up for Bait and Switch as he produces- again with Stuber- the forthcoming
Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) project
Ted, in which a boys Teddy Bear comes to life during his childhood and continues to live be his side guiding his life into adulthood. The movie which co-stars
Mila Kunis is a $65 million live action film- MacFarlanes first as a director- that will feature comedian Joe McHale and Walhberg himself. The film is close to beginning principle photography for a release July 13, 2012. Meanwhile Wahlberg stars alongside
Kate Beckinsale,
Ben Foster &
Giovanni Ribisi in the $30 million English-language Universal remake of Icelandic thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam, the blandly translated titled
Contraband, that is set to open March 16th, 2012.