In fact, a recent headline in trade paper Variety reads: "They Almost Lost Mark Wahlberg"
The target was a Taliban leader when Navy Seals landed on a mountain in Afghanistan, but their mission was compromised and ended in tragedy with 19 dead and Marcus Luttrell, the lone survivor; the only one left to tell this story.
"I'm here and it was my responsibility to make sure it was done right," he said.
He wrote a book and chose director Pete Berg to bring it to the big screen.
Luttrell is played by Mark Wahlberg.
"What I learned is that I didn't have enough appreciation for what those soldiers do for us." Wahlberg said.
And I gained new respect for the star when I learned about a near-accident on-set. An accident made even scarier by the fact Wahlberg has had to endure painful eye surgery in recent years.
"There's an explosion that's supposed to go off and it's supposed to be three, two, one and move out of the way boom: it hits the side. Well, Pete felt I was anticipating it because I'm sensitive about my eyes so unbeknownst to me he told the effects guy to go on 'two' and so he shot me square in the face with this mortar," he said.
Wahlberg was not happy.
"Threw some things and broke some stuff and threatened a few people and Pete said 'it was my fault' and I said 'I'll knock you out too,'" Wahlberg said.
The actor took an hour to cool off, returned to the set and says today he would work with director Pete Berg tomorrow.
The trouble with Wahlberg's eyes began when he was making "the fighter". Small fragments of metal from the bracket holding his punching bag got lodged in his eyes and required a couple of operations to remove. Who says acting is a cushy job.
