Sony Brings 'We Own the Night' to Blu-ray

High-Def Digest
The Mark Wahlberg-Joaquin Phoenix crime drama will make its high-def bow this February, when Sony debuts the film on Blu-ray with multiple bonus features.

Director James Gray's follow-up to his cult hit 'The Yards,' 'We Own the Night' enjoyed solid critical reception but earned an only so-so $30 million at the domestic box office. Sony will give the film another push when it debuts the film on Blu-ray, day-and-date with the standard DVD on February 12, 2008.

Tech specs have yet to be announced, but extras shared between the DVD and teh Blu-ray are set to include an audio commentary with Gray and the featurettes "Police Action: Filming Cops, Cars, and Chaos" and "A Moment In Crime: Creating Late 80's Brooklyn."

Sony has set a suggested $38.96 list price for the Blu-ray.

Official We Own the Night Premiere Pics

Mark Wahlberg on the Red Carpet at the New York City Premiere of Columbia Pictures' and 2929 Productions' We Own The Night, written and directed by James Gray. Photo By: Eric Charbonneau


L-r, Writer and Director James Gray, Eva Mendes, Robert Duvall, Co-Chairman Sony Pictures Entertainment Amy Pascal, Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix on the Red Carpet at the New York City Premiere of Columbia Pictures' and 2929 Productions' We Own The Night, written and
directed by James Gray. Photo By: Eric Charbonneau


Mark Wahlberg, left, and Joaquin Phoenix at the after party of the New York City Premiere for Columbia Pictures' and 2929 Productions' We Own The Night, written and directed by James Gray. Photo By: Eric Charbonneau

Oscar Watch 2008 Interview #2: Actor Mark Wahlberg

Movieweb
Oscar Watch 2008 Interview #2: Actor Mark Wahlberg

We Own the Night just might come Oscar time. It's the first film to establish a solid ensemble cast this season. Every single performer gives it their all in this exhilarating crime drama. Mark Wahlberg plays Joseph Gursinsky, a New York City police officer in charge of taking down the Russian Mobsters who have set up shop in his brother's nightclub. Wahlberg plays the cop with a calm demeanor, escalating the stakes at hand. After having a hit taken out on him and his family, his brother (played by Joaquin Phoenix) must step in and join the police force to bring the Russian drug lords to justice.

We recently met up with Mark Wahlberg to discuss his new film and career in general, as well as his chances at this year's Oscar ceremony. Here is what the actor had to say for himself:

Mark Wahlberg: Who was just in here? Joaquin?

He Joaquin'd us! He said some rotten things about you, too.

Mark Wahlberg: Oh, God! That's all right. In the other room, I just ripped into him too.

He described working with you, and was surprised how you could just walk in and know everything. You were totally in character, you knew everybody's lines. He was really impressed with that.

Mark Wahlberg: Well, I just come to work prepared. I like to dive in, especially working with a guy like James Gray, who is very specific in what he is looking for. You could just ask him for a line reading, and it saves everybody a lot of time. And Joaquin comes in, he's all, "Ugh, I don't like this." And he would smoke twenty cigarettes at eight o'clock in the morning. I'm like, "Come on, man. Lets just do it." And he whines, "No, your parts good. Mine's not." But everybody has got his or her own process. I just know that James is so specific. I try to come in as prepared as possible. I want to be ready to do what he wants me to do. More...

Mark Wahlberg Discusses We Own the Night

About.com
The dramatic thriller We Own the Night marks the second teaming of actors Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix with director James Gray. The trio worked on the 2000 crime drama The Yards and had been looking to reunite on another movie.

In We Own the Night, Wahlberg and Phoenix play brothers who take very different paths as adults. Wahlberg sticks close to their family, following his dad (played by Robert Duvall) into the police force. Phoenix, on the other hand, opts for a life on the wrong side of the law.

On Playing a Cop: Wahlberg’s done it a few times now. “I know a lot about cops but I have since I was a kid,” said Wahlberg. “It’s just, you know, it’s a tough job.

I appreciate them more now. I, like every other crook, hated the f--king cops when I was doing wrong. Now I appreciate them. It’s a difficult job.”

The actor’s spent a significant amount of time with officers and has learned a lot about what makes men and women who choose that profession tick. Asked what’s the most surprising thing he’s discovered thus far, Wahlberg answered, “How committed they, the ones that are doing the right thing, how committed they are to helping people. It’s a very heroic thing that they do.” More...

Respect, friendship perfect pairing/Wahlberg, Phoenix team up once again in 'We Own the Night' By Bob Strauss

Mercury News
Though they both come from show business families, started performing at early ages and had movie successes as young adults, there were no guarantees that Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg would, by their 30s, become two of Hollywood's most accomplished leading men.
But instead of falling into the obscurity we might have expected, the former Marky Mark, 36, can claim a string of both critical ("Boogie Nights," "Three Kings," "I Heart Huckabees") and popular hits ("The Perfect Storm," "The Italian Job," "Four Brothers," "Invincible"), both culminating in his Academy Award-nominated role in "The Departed" last year.

Two-time nominee Phoenix, who turns 33 this month, has worked with a who's who of top directors from Gus Van Sant ("To Die For"), Oliver Stone ("U Turn") and Ridley Scott ("Gladiator") to M. Night Shyamalan ("Signs," "The Village") and James Mangold ("Walk the Line").

Now Phoenix and Wahlberg have paired up for the second time in "We Own the Night," a crime thriller written and directed by James Gray, for whom they earlier made "The Yards." They play two estranged brothers -- one a cop, the other a nightclub manager -- who get tangled up with the Russian mob in 1980s New York.

Q: What makes you guys want to keep working together?

Phoenix: He's gorgeous to look at. (laughs) No, he is really hard-working. Which means a lot to me, I think it's something that I really value in other people.

Wahlberg: Joaq feels like my brother. We're comfortable and familiar with one another, and that level of trust and respect is there. And we also know how to push each other's buttons, which brothers do constantly. More...

Mark Wahlberg Interview By Jordan Riefe

UGO
Mark Wahlberg's career path has been like night and day. After rising to fame as a pop-rapper in the '80s, Wahlberg made the switch to the acting world where his career really took off. Bursting onto the scene with an unforgettable role in Boogie Nights, Wahlberg's gotten better with each and every character he plays, including his Oscar nominated performance as a cop on the wrong side of the law in The Departed. Now Mark Wahlberg takes on the crime drama We Own the Night, starring alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Robert Duvall. After catching up to Wahlberg at the L.A. junket, we learned he's more down to earth and grounded than you'd expect from a Hollywood heavyweight.

Mark Wahlberg on the types of roles he looks for:

"I want to do interesting parts and do work with good people, whether it's a big part or a small part. It's great. For We Own The Night I came in for five weeks because my son had just been born. So I had to wait till he was two weeks old. And then the day I finished we went to do Shooter. For Shooter we had 80 shooting days and that was tough and every day was a long day." More...

Why Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix Waited Eight Years To 'Own The Night'

MTV
There are movies, there are jobs, and then there are labors of love.

For those unsure of the distinction, think of the "Cannonball Run" or "Ocean's" flicks. Those are movies made for the celebration of friends, fame and fun. As for jobs, well, those are more along the lines of "Catwoman" and "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" — paychecks, plain and simple, that were likely as hard for those involved to suffer through as the McJobs the rest of us have endured to pay the rent.

"We Own the Night" is a labor of love. And Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix and writer/director James Gray aren't ashamed to admit it. More...

Mark Wahlberg: 'I Don't Want to Work Forever' By Jed Dreben

People
Mark Wahlberg's priorities are changing.

The actor has had so much fun and success in Hollywood, they made a hit TV show about him, but the father of two, has decided to take it down a notch.

"I've been really focused on me for quite sometime now," admitted Wahlberg, 36, who said girlfriend Rhea Durham, daughter Ella, 4, and son, Michael, 18 months, "are definitely the priority" now.

"I figure I got a few more years to work really hard and then, you know, if I can make a movie every year and a half or something then that would be nice," he told reporters at the press day for his latest film, We Own the Night. "I don't want to work forever."

The realization came to Wahlberg – whose life HBO's Entourage is based on and which he also executive produces – on the heels of the highly successful movie The Departed, which brought the actor his first Oscar nomination. "It was at a really tough time," Wahlberg said of starting work on We Own the Night. "I was about to have my second child. I had left shortly after my first child was born to work and that was a very difficult experience."

Still, Wahlberg refers to the film as "a labor of love" adding that everyone, including him, had to make sacrifices to get it made. When asked which one he made, Wahlberg quipped: "Just my salary. I don't know what Joaquin [Phoenix ] makes, but my salary for sure."

We Own the Night, which also stars Phoenix, Eva Mendes and Robert Duvall opens Oct. 12.

Currently, Wahlberg is shooting M. Night Shyamalan's next project, The Happening, in which he plays a science teacher.

We own the Night clips and pictures

IESB
8 Clips plus more production stills.

Mark on Conan O'Brien October 9th!

'Night' moves Director shares woes on casting cop drama By Erin Maxwell

Variety
If one word could be used to describe the making of “We Own the Night,” it would be “perseverance.” At the Variety screening series, director James Gray shared the difficulties he had with casting the cop drama.
“I never once had an actor say, ‘Yes, I want to do your movie,’ “ said the helmer.

“I was in New York researching the movie on a ridealong and saw a cheesy talkshow that Eva (Mendes) was on. And she was obviously a thousand times brighter than the person interviewing her,” said Gray. “We sent her the script. And we got the answer: ‘No!’ “

The lovely Eva was on hand at the screening to explain her decision at the time.

“A year goes by, and he’s relentless. It’s amazing,” said the actress. “And then I heard he might offer it to another actress that shall remain nameless, and suddenly I’m like, ‘what?’ “

Once Mendes said yes, Gray then needed to secure Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix. After all, he wrote the roles with those two actors in mind.

“I remember after finishing it, I gave the script to Mark, and he said, ‘I can’t do this movie, Jim,’ “ said Gray. “I called Mark one or two times a day for seven straight months.”

“When he got me on board, he called me and said, ‘Eva, you gotta help me out. Mark just had a baby and he doesn’t want to do the movie. It has to be Mark Wahlberg. You have to help me get him.’ So we created ‘Operation Seduce Mark Wahlberg,’ “ joked Mendes. “Mark doesn't know me. I’m actually a decent young woman in a relationship, and yet I still called him and said, ‘Hey Mark, this is Eva Mendes. Do you want to go have a drink?’ “

Once the filmmaker secured Wahlberg, he set his sights on Phoenix. Gray explained how he nabbed the Oscar-nominated actor by playing up to his artistic side.

“It’s very easy for people of this stature to go off and make a lot of money by doing stuff that’s easy,” Gray said of Phoenix. “You have to appeal to the artist in them. Joaquin’s approach to material is that he’s very afraid of not understanding the arc of the character. So I put the character to him in personal terms. I got him into it that way.”

Mark on Regis & Kelly October 9th!