Mark Wahlberg Breaks Down Epic Bear Fight In 'Ted'

'We choreographed it, but you're just in there flailing away at yourself,' he tells MTV News.
By Danika Ruberti, with reporting by Kara Warner

Mark Wahlberg, Ted as voiced by Seth McFarlane and Mila Kunis in "Ted"
Photo:

Don't ever challenge your childhood teddy bear to a fight. Well, that's what it looks like in the trailer for Seth MacFarlane's "Ted," opening Friday. Prepare to watch the fuzzy, dirty-mouthed bear lunge in the air and strangle his best friend, played by Mark Wahlberg.

Creating this complex scene was much trickier than the typical choreographed action sequence, because Wahlberg's character couldn't really fight his teddy bear. Instead, he was filmed battling empty space.

When MTV News caught up with Wahlberg and MacFarlane, we asked them to break down the technicalities involved in shooting the epic fight and how Wahlberg managed to fight an imaginary teddy bear.

"Mark had to either fight, depending upon the shot, with empty space or a pair of [teddy] bear arms, bear legs or a torso," MacFarlane explained. "As crazy as it looks, it was very carefully choreographed by our stunt people."

Taking three full days to carefully film each part of this scene, Wahlberg described how they made his fight with thin air come to life.

"We choreographed it, but you're just in there flailing away at yourself," Wahlberg said. "He's like, 'OK, now he kicks you in the balls and now he does this.' I felt pretty silly."

Although Wahlberg mentioned he felt the most ridiculous during this scene, the voice, director and co-writer of "Ted" found his co-star admirable and believable.

"If you look at the raw footage, Mark's just going like this [strangling himself] with a pair of [teddy] bear arms attached to nothing," MacFarlane demonstrated. "It gives you a sense of how good he is and how much he was able to sell the fact that he's fighting this imaginary character, because it really came together very well, I think."

Check out everything we've got on "Ted."

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