Donnie Wahlberg Talks “Boston Blue,” His Brother Mark, and More

You can take the boy out of Boston, but you can’t take Boston out of the boy—and Donnie Wahlberg seems determined to prove it with his new CBS series, Boston Blue, premiering this Friday, October 17. The highly anticipated spin-off of the popular police procedural Blue Bloods transplants Wahlberg’s character, former NYPD detective Danny Reagan, to the Boston Police Department, because why stop at one fictional badge, right? But that’s hardly all that’s keeping the musician turned actor busy. In June, New Kids on the Block launched the first leg of their Las Vegas residency, a nostalgia-powered spectacle that will captivate fans again this fall and winter with their signature moves and hits. We recently caught up with Wahlberg between chasing fictional criminals by day and harmonizing with Jordan Knight by night to chat about teenage fame, Tom Selleck, and those infamous NKOTB cruises.

First of all, if you could only root for one team for the rest of your life—Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, or Bruins—which is it?
Oh, my God, that’s the most evil question in the history of the world. I’m gonna go with the New England Revolution.

So Boston Blue—was that partially or wholly your idea?
Partially. I think it was my idea to do a show with Danny Reagan as a fish out of water, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that CBS would agree to [setting it in] Boston, so I didn’t even suggest it. And when I suggested Texas or California or Las Vegas, they said, “What’s wrong with Boston?” And my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe that they actually would be okay with it.

Is the show shot here?
Oh, yeah. We’re going to Fenway to shoot. We’re going to a bunch of different landmarks. We’re going to do a lot of exterior scenes. Doing this in Boston was a dream, and because of the economics of the industry right now, you know, [other productions are] going elsewhere, but I was kind of adamant that there are just things you can’t fake about Boston. So while I didn’t get my dream of filming it entirely in Boston, I got a fair compromise from everybody involved.

So who is the most talented Wahlberg?
That would have been Alma.

I know it’s been four years, but I’m very sorry about the passing of your mom. She was a really lovely person.
It’s all good. It would have been Alma, but I’ll go with Paul [the chef] now. If you’re asking just between Mark and me, I produced all of Mark’s records and wrote most of his songs, so I think I’d win between him and me. But he’s a very talented young man.

Acting versus singing: How do you identify yourself? Are you an actor? Are you a singer? Are you a singer who acts, an actor who sings?
Oh, boy. I think I was born to be a member of the New Kids on the Block. So I think that is my purpose. I started acting in first grade, so it was always in my blood. But I think my true purpose is music.

Are the NKOTB cruises exhausting?
I don’t sleep for four days on the cruises, and it’s the best four days of my life every time we do it.

What do your kids think of New Kids on the Block?
They’re very proud of me. They’re both musicians. They both love coming to New Kids concerts. But they both don’t want me to go see their bands play, so they’re proud to a point.

What was the last concert you went to?
Barry Manilow.

That’s so funny. Me, too. It was clearly a very Vegas show, but TD Garden was full, and he was awesome. Speaking of Las Vegas, you guys just got a residency—that’s like some Elvis-level shit. Is that a career high for you?
When we talked about doing Vegas as kids, back then, you went to Vegas and you did cover songs and, you know, show tunes, and you just retired there. Now, it’s a completely different thing. We share a theater with Bruno Mars and formerly Aerosmith, Lady Gaga, and Maroon 5. Vegas has changed so much that it’s really become a milestone, as opposed to a place where you set up your career gravestone.

How did you avoid the pitfalls of teenage fame?
I’m not sure I avoided the pitfalls of teenage fame. I think I just avoided the stereotypical pitfalls of teenage fame. I certainly made my share of mistakes, and it wasn’t easy growing up or going through sort of my autonomy years in a fishbowl. But I think there’s something about growing up in Boston that made all the New Kids very determined not to become a footnote. You know, Boston keeps you humble, but it also keeps you hungry. I never wanted to go back to that city and not make it proud.

Who in the band is the messiest?
Well, every one of the New Kids would say me, so I’m not gonna argue with them.

Can you still rap?
Of course.

What’s the cheesiest piece of merchandise with your face on it?
I went into…I think it was a Sears when New Kids were really at the height of the insanity. And there was a whole area dedicated to us, and I saw neon furry slippers. And, you know, ironically, I’d probably find them cool today, but in 1990, I literally turned around, went down the escalator, left the store, and called our attorney and said, “What are we doing?”

Is there anyone who calls you Donald?
My son, Elijah. It’s all he calls me.

That’s hilarious. What do you think is your best performance as an actor?
Well, I’m not sure. I would probably have to say The Sixth Sense, just because of what it meant to my career and how I think it was officially the moment I started to be considered an actor, as opposed to a guy from a boy band acting now and again.

Who’s the greatest actor you’ve ever worked with?
Fast answer would be Al Pacino, but I think the most important answer would be John Leguizamo. You know, it was at a really early stage in my career, and I worked with him on a movie that was on the verge of being shut down, and some of the actors were, I guess, hoping it would get shut down. I had a scene with John, and we rehearsed together, and he was so committed and disinterested in the politics of what was happening behind the scenes and so focused on the work that I knew that was the path I had to follow—to stay committed to the work no matter what. As it turned out, the movie didn’t get shut down, and he was exceptional in the movie, and it really had an impact on me to this day.

Is there a singer or an actor that you’ve been compared to that you consider the greatest compliment?
I’ve been told that I’d be a good choice to play Frank Sinatra in a biopic. I don’t see it. Other than that, I don’t think I’ve been compared to anyone. Honestly, sometimes people mistake me for Mark Wahlberg. So I guess that’ll have to do.

You were in all the Saw movies. What do you think it is about horror movies that we love so much?
It’s probably that we survived them. Half the thrill is being terrified and then coming out of it, knowing you’re okay and laughing like an idiot.

What are your top three spots in Boston?
Well, I would say courtside at a Celtics game. Anytime I can go back to Dorchester would be number two, and I’d probably say anywhere down by the harbor or in the Seaport. Because I remember Boston before the Big Dig, and it has changed so much. It’s so beautiful. Sure, it was disastrous at times, but no other city in the world could dream of doing such a thing for the budget that it was done on.

What three adjectives would you use to describe Tom Selleck?
I’ll go with serious, dedicated, and a big softy.

Do you have any aspirations to do Broadway?
The phrase “do Broadway” for me means go to some shows and watch them.

So you don’t want to perform on Broadway?
I don’t want to perform on Broadway, per se, but I’d like to do a New Kids Broadway show at some point. But performing on Broadway, it’s not my calling. I hope to go see Joey McIntyre in a Tony Award–winning performance on Broadway someday.

Have you ever worked with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck? And if not, why?
I’ve worked with Ben on the Dunkin’ Super Bowl ad, and he was awesome. I haven’t worked with Matt, but I’ve gotten to know him, and I just think the world of both of them.

What, besides your family, is the thing you miss the most about Boston?
The unmistakable energy in the air. It’s noticeable the second I step off an airplane or out of a car driving in from another place. It’s just unmistakably Boston. If you haven’t traveled out of Boston, you don’t know, but if you have, and you’ve been able to be in other places and come back, it’s different here.

Anybody you were ever intimidated to work with or starstruck by?
Not really. I was a little intimidated to work with Bill Belichick on the Dunkin’ ad, but he had already wrapped and finished before I got there, so it wasn’t a problem.

Do you think you’d make a good cop in real life?
I do. I never forget a face.

Have you done any actual police training? Or have you learned things about being a policeman by playing so many of them that you’d never know otherwise?
Absolutely; I’ve learned a lot. Most specifically, the whole concept of running to something that everyone else is running away from. When you’re a husband or wife or a dad or a mom and you’re on the job and you have family or loved ones at home, and something horrible is happening, and you’re running to it while hundreds of people are running in the other direction, you know, to put all the things in your life to the side and put other people’s safety first, it’s an amazing thing to consider. I don’t really have to do that. I just have to pretend to do that, right? But I treat that commitment that real police officers have with great respect and admiration.

To what degree do you think you owe your success to record producer Maurice Starr?
Maurice Starr changed my life. Maurice Starr changed the lives of so many people that it’s almost limitless to consider. The Maurice Starr family tree—if you think of New Edition, then you’d have to think of each individual member and their success, then the offshoots, then the [groups they influenced], Boyz II Men, the people that they affected. Then, of course, New Kids. You know, I don’t think you have Backstreet Boys without Maurice Starr. You don’t have NSYNC without Maurice Starr; you don’t have Justin Timberlake. Without Maurice Starr, you don’t have One Direction and Harry Styles. There should be a statue of Maurice in Boston.

It’s funny that you say that, because my next question for you was going to be, “Would you like a statue of yourself? And where would you put it?”
I wouldn’t personally put a statue of myself anywhere. That’s for someone else to decide if I’m deserving of that. I’d settle for a street named after me in Dorchester, or a park. That would be a tremendous honor for me.

Well, my last question for you is, where is the best burger in Boston?
[Laughs.] At a little place called Wahlburgers next to Fenway Park.