Ted stars Mila Kunis and Mark Wahlberg first worked together in the action-thriller Max Payne. This time out, they had the task of acting opposite a foul-mouthed teddy bear in the first feature film from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.
“I was a little nervous at first, but once we started getting into it, I felt comfortable pretty quickly,” Wahlberg said of his furry co-star. “It was more of a problem working with Mila. She’s a tough cookie.”
Kunis spent much less time opposite the title character. “Mine was very circumstantial, whether the bear was to the right of me or to the left of me or to the front of me. I think Mark had it the hardest,” she said.
One of the scenes in Ted that had to be a serious challenge was when Ted and Wahlberg’s John brawl in a hotel room. It plays for laughs, but it’s as intense as any action sequence.
“I didn’t have to do anything to prepare other than just trust Seth. I just felt so ridiculous flopping around in that room, by myself. But, everybody loves that scene,” Wahlberg said.
The film is utterly hilarious (check out our Ted review). A large part of that is the comic timing of Wahlberg. The actor has developed a serious knack for humor that, he admits, comes from years of soaking in classic TV.
“I grew up watching a lot of old television with my father, like F Troop and Barney Miller. [Det. Stan “Wojo”] Wojciehowicz would probably be the one to best describe one of my comic idols.”
Regardless of his hilarity history, for Wahlberg, it’s about the words on the page that make him appear funny. “It’s all in the material. I approach a comedy the same way I do a drama. I try to make it as real as possible,” he added.
Both Kunis and Wahlberg could take hours extolling the virtues of MacFarlane, particularly the actress who has starred on his animated series for almost a decade.
“From Family Guy to Ted, I think that Seth’s humor is incredibly socially relevant. I think that there’s a certain linear story to his humor. It’s very consistent and it’s smart,” Kunis said.
“He’s brilliant at what he does because he sets people up in low-brow situations with high-brow humor, and that’s one of the hardest things to do. Also, all of his humor is rooted in truth and honesty. From Family Guy’s flashbacks to the songs that some of the characters break into to the fact that there’s a movie coming out about a talking teddy bear that nobody seems to be questioning -- it’s all rooted in truth.”
“He’s the funniest (expletive) I’ve ever met,” Wahlberg added.