From Rapper to Serious Actor

Mark Wahlberg made a big Hollywood splash as porn star Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights. But in his latest role he traded in his G-string for an Army uniform.

Wahlberg portrays Sergeant Troy Barlow in Three Kings, which stars George Clooney and rapper Ice Cube. CBS News This Morning Mark McEwen reports.

Three Kings is an action-packed drama about three American servicemen who stir up a little postwar trouble.

"The war has been over for a week, and we're taking in a lot of Iraqi prisoners. And we've stripped them down and have run into an officer who did not want to comply," Wahlberg explains.

"So we had to make him strip, and there's a treasure map hanging out of his rear end," Wahlberg adds.

The film ends up resembling a treasure hunt of sorts where the characters are convinced they can find goods stolen from Kuwait.

"We go out there and we find all this stuff with no problem, but we also find out there's other stuff going on that doesn't sit well with us," Wahlberg says.

Read about actor George Clooney's role in the film in "Clooney Is Back In Three Kings"

Three Kings is one of the first films to examine Operation Desert Storm. "It puts a face on the enemy," he says. In one scene, Wahlberg is tortured by an Iraqi soldier, who had been trained by Americans in interrogation and sabotage.

"It really opened my eyes to a lot of things that happened over there," Wahlberg says.

"My character is like most Americans, you know. We think we're the greatest country in the world, and we're doing the right thing. We do have great intentions but we don't always do things right," he says.

"I wasn't as aware about the revolution, and Bush convincing all these refugees to rise up and try to overthrow Saddam. And then turn around and walk away and leave them there to be slaughtered," he adds.

Wahlberg, who says he never expected to be an actor, is working on another movie with George Clooney Perfect Storm.

I was trying to be real and be the kid I was from the streets," says Wahlberg, adding that as a teen rapper, he was offered movie roles he was not interested in pursuing, such as a white rapper or a mean kid on the skateboard.

"Then I met Penny Marshall and Danny DeVito by accident. And they thought I could do it and gave me a shot," he says. "I don't want to do anything else," he adds.

For more information, visit the Three Kings Web site.

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