Mark Wahlberg stepped into the world of acting and didn’t look back. He knew acting was his passion and that’s where he belongs.

The 52-year-old actor has built his acting career all on his own with his incredible acting skills and hard work. Wahlberg got the first opportunity to play the lead character in Martin Donovan’s movie The Substitute. 

Mark Wahlberg at an event
The movie was a psychological thriller and it was a television film that was released on 22 September 1993. According to reports, there were several difficulties during the filming of the movie because the school where it was being shot found the story of the movie full of violence and s**ual content.

School board official came across a copy of The Substitute’s script  

Mark Wahlberg at an event
Mark Wahlberg’s movie The Substitute was a thriller movie and the storyline of the movie had violence and s**ual content. The makers of Wahlberg’s movie were looking for a school where they can film the movie and they found the perfect location at the Kitsilano High.

A journalist wrote a piece about how one of the board members of the Vancouver school found the script of Donovan’s movie. The board members were averse to the script as it was full of violence and s*x. The part of the article reads,

“Vancouver School Board official came across a copy of the script and found it full of s*x and violence. Before you could say “blood ‘n’ guts” the powers that be nixed use of the school. Luckily, the explicit draft that caused all the fuss was not the actual shooting script–or so the filmmakers explained to the school board, anyway.”
The producers finally convinced the Vancouver school board after considerable discussion to allow them to film on the school premises. Reportedly, the filming of the movie could have stopped for a very long time if the board would have not allowed the filming of the television film.

Martin Donovan said there was an element of The Substitute that he found fascinating

Martin Donovan at an event 
During an interview, the 65-year-old director talked about why he first didn’t want to direct Wahlberg’s movie. Soon his meeting with the writer of the movie David S. Goyer changed his perspective toward the film. While talking about his conversation with the writer of the movie, Donovan said,
“I just couldn’t understand why they wanted me to direct, it. because I thought it was going to be one of those slasher movies. But I had a meeting with David and he said he wanted to bring in someone who was not a genre firector and let him make the movie his own way. That was absolutely wonderful for me, because there was an element of the story that I found fascinating.” 

The director of Simple Men added that the characters’ identities piqued his curiosity. Donovan is one of the most well-known directors in the business and has collaborated with many talented actors and filmmakers.