(L to R) Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Zoe Colletti and Van Crosby in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
In his career, Mark Wahlberg has brought us plenty of family comedy and has also been part of some high-adrenaline action movies.
But he’s rarely had the chance to combine them. That changes now as he’s the star of Apple and Skydance’s ‘The Family Plan’, which sees him as a man who has to protect his family when his past comes back to haunt him.
In ‘The Family Plan’, Wahlberg plays Dan Morgan, who loves his quiet suburban life as a devoted husband, father of three and successful car salesman. But that’s only half the story.
Decades earlier, he was an elite government assassin tasked with eliminating the world’s deadliest threats. When enemies from his past track him down, Dan packs his unsuspecting wife Jessica (Michelle Monaghan), angsty teen daughter, pro-gamer teen son and adorable 10-month-old baby into their minivan and takes off on an impromptu cross-country road trip to Las Vegas.
Determined to protect his family — while treating them to the vacation of a lifetime — Dan must put his long-dormant skills into action, without revealing his true identity.
Directed by Simon Cellan Jones, who has worked on TV shows such as ‘See’, ‘Ballers’ and Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat’, ‘The Family Plan’ takes aim at being a fun watch for the family.
Moviefone recently attended a virtual press conference for ‘The Family Plan.’ Taking part were stars Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Zoe Margaret Colletti and Van Crosby and director Simon Cellan Jones.
Here are 10 things we learned from the press conference, edited for clarity and length.
1) Michelle Monaghan and Mark Wahlberg appreciated different things about their characters
(L to R) Michelle Monaghan and Mark Wahlberg in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
The pair both found something to like about the people they were playing on screen, with Wahlberg as family man/former assassin Dan Morgan and Monaghan as wife Jessica.
Michelle Monaghan: I like how spontaneous [Jessica] is. Yeah, I think she’s a really spontaneous character. She is up for anything, and she really wants more of that in her life. And so that was fun. I got to do a lot of stunts and things related to that and I loved that. I loved the roller coaster, loved the all the stunts. That was all really, really fun for me.
Wahlberg, however ,was focused more on the side that Dan, his character, shows to the family, rather than his former life. It’s something he gets to do in real life when he swaps being a movie star for being a dad.
Mark Wahlberg: What I liked was that he was embracing being boring. I could relate to that. I’ve adopted that attitude quite some time ago. I get to be fun and exciting during my job, but other than that, I’m just boring dad.
2) Mark Wahlberg Really Enjoyed Working with Director Simon Cellan Jones
Mark Wahlberg in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
Wahlberg and his ‘The Family Plan’ director Jones clearly got on like a house on fire. They clicked so well, in fact, that Wahlberg has gone on to work with Jones on a new movie, ‘Arthur the King’.
MW: I’ve worked with him now two films, five seasons of a television show and I just learned how to pronounce his name! He’s like a brother. I mean, we bonded so quickly. Such fun, energetic, super talented, always prepared but game for anything. Willing to try anything. Very patient. This took me back to the days where movie-making wasn’t so labor-intensive and taxing. It was a joyful experience, it really was. And I accredit Simon and Michelle especially for that.
3) Doing a Keg Stand Was Michelle Monaghan’s Favorite Part of Making the Movie
Michelle Monaghan in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
Even given the stunt training she went through, or time with the movie’s family, Monaghan admits that a sequence where she heads to a college and ends up doing a keg stand was her most memorable moment.
MM: That keg stand was really fun. I loved to see that in the script. I’d grown up in the Midwest and I was very familiar with keg stands for better or for worse. So that was really funny, a little blast from the past. And I guess learning the little pole vault stunt and doing some of those scenes were really fun as well.
4) Simon Cellan Jones was a little daunted by the scale of the film, but ended up loving it
Mark Wahlberg in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
While director Simon Cellan Jones has made movies before (including 2000’s ‘Some Voices’ and 2002’s ‘The One and Only’), he’s largely spent the last few years making TV, such as ‘See’, ‘Ballers’ and ‘The Diplomat’. And ‘The Family Plan’ is by some measure the biggest movie he’s tackled so far.
Simon Cellan Jones: Working on a big film like this, for the first week, I was terrified. And then I went, “wait a minute, this is really fun. It’s really exciting.” I was working with fantastic people, actors and crew. We had enough money to do some ambitious stuff. Believe me, I don’t want to go back. I love it like this!
Related Article: Actor and Producer Mark Wahlberg Talks ‘Father Stu’
5) Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan related to the road trip scenes
(L to R) Michelle Monaghan and Mark Wahlberg in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
As Wahlberg’s Dan takes the family on what they think is an impromptu vacation, he realizes that those threatening them might track their phones. So he collects everyone’s devices and throws them off a bridge, much to their shock.
For Monaghan she felt seen as a mother who is occasionally frustrated with her kids’ phone use.
MM: For me, one of my favorite scenes is the scene were we’re in the road trip and Mark takes all the devices and throws them out the window. That is so relatable to my family. That is wish fulfillment! That is exactly right! The way that it is edited with everyone’s reaction, is just was such a great edit. But that is definitely something that I relate to so very much. In the car we think that we’re going to connect, and then everybody’s got their own headphones on and everybody’s doing their own thing and it makes me crazy.
Wahlberg also saw the reality of the situation.
MW: The only real power you have over your children still might be to be able to threaten them, to cut them off from what they think is the most important way to communicate even though it’s so impersonal. But yeah, that was a very fun moment.
6) Mark Wahlberg was happy to get the chance to film in Las Vegas
Mark Wahlberg in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
While the majority of the movie was shot in Atlanta, Las Vegas did serve as a location for the big finale of the film –– and some scenes were filmed there.
MW: It meant a lot. Being a new resident, I think I was excited to really be able to showcase Vegas in a way that I thought would, again just make it more appealing because obviously people know Vegas for the Strip, but there’s a lot more to it than that and it is very family oriented in, as far as its entertainment and appeal. And I moved there for my kids. So, I was very, very excited to not only shoot the film there but also premiere the film there and hopefully be able to build a studio and make films there.
7) Working with Babies is as Tough as You Might Imagine
(L to R) Van Crosby, Iliana Norris, Michelle Monaghan and Zoe Colletti in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
The old adage reads “never work with children or animals”, but ‘The Family Plan’s team needed a baby for the Morgan dynamic to work. Twins Vienna and Iliana Norris played Max, the youngest Morgan. Who certainly gets to take part in some big scenes…
Zoe Margaret Colletti, for one, was very happy to spend time with them.
Zoe Margaret Colletti: They’re my favorite costars. I love them. Their names are Ilena and Vienna, and they’re the cutest little sweetest girls. They are playing a boy, but they are two little girls and they’re precious.
Acting alongside them was one thing. But directing them and making sure all was safe during big action moments? That was quite another for director Simon Cellan Jones.
SCJ: They worked out in the end, but I’m going to level with you. We had a big, big fight in a supermarket, which, so far, so normal. But there’s one kicker on it. There’s a baby strapped into a baby Bjorn. And we had two twins playing the baby Max who were both fantastic, but this was their first big heavy day. And of course one of them is strapped to Mark Wahlberg and he’s lovely with kids, so he looks after them very well, but he’s fighting and he’s moving around and he’s doing all that stuff. And the babies were going, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. This is not in our contract!” So we had to be very, very patient that day. It worked out. But there were a couple of times when I was going, “Oh my God, my career is over.”
8) The Biggest Lesson Mark Wahlberg Took Away from the Movie Was About Family
(L to R) Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
MW: We have to embrace [change] too though, to allow that to happen and embrace the evolution and the growth. Sometimes we find ourselves wanting our kids to stay small and little forever and we know that is impossible. It’s inevitable that they’ll grow and change. You want to be able to embrace that you’re giving life, you’re not having somebody that’s going to be your little pet forever. So you want to be able to hopefully just guide them and protect them and teach them and point them in the right direction and most importantly be a good example. But yes, it’s hard to see them grow and change and go off to college. My daughter now is at college, but at the same time I’m looking forward for my wife and I to have more time together to do things on our own and not have to lock the door!
9) Mark Wahlberg Watched an Early version of the Movie With His Kids
(L to R) Mark Wahlberg and Iliana Norris in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
As one of the producers of the movie as well as being the star, Wahlberg had access to the film at an early stage of the post-production phase. And he found a handy test audience to help judge if it was working.
MW: I think watching it the first time at a very, very early stage of the edit with my entire family was a lot of fun because it wasn’t a thing where I invited everybody to come and sit and watch the movie. I was just sitting at home in my living room in Vegas watching it and everybody just kind of started to gather around and watch and started to really enjoy it. And it wasn’t until Michelle flipped the toothbrush out of her mouth in the movie that everybody looked at me like, whoa, ‘you didn’t tell us about this part!’
10) A Joke About The Name “Van” Was in the Script Before Van Crosby was Cast
(L to R) Zoe Colletti, Iliana Norris, Michelle Monaghan and Van Crosby in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
As Dan puts his plans in place to try and have his family disappear under new identities to avoid his old associates, he gets them new passports. Kyle Morgan discovers he has the name “Van”, which leads sister Nina to crack, “you’re named after a vehicle!” It sounds like an in-joke about Van Crosby, who plays Kyle, but it predates him.
Van Crosby: That was in the original script. When I got the script for the audition, that was already in there, so that was completely by chance. That was not written in at all, so I was just as surprised too. I was like, “What? That’s my name.” Yeah. So yeah, that was already there.
Dan Morgan is many things: a devoted husband, a loving father, a celebrated car salesman. He’s also a former assassin. And when his past catches up to his present,… Read the Plot
What is the Plot of ‘The Family Plan’?
Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) is a seemingly normal family man, but was once the deadliest assassin in the world. When his past finally catches up with him, Dan takes his family on a “road trip” to Las Vegas so he can confront the man who wants him dead—all while trying to keep his old life a secret from his wife and children.
Who is in the cast of ‘The Family Plan’?
Mark Wahlberg and Iliana Norris in ‘The Family Plan,’ premiering December 15, 2023 on Apple TV+.
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