The Deepwater Horizon star’s career has spanned pop fame as Marky Mark, dozens of blockbusters, reality TV and even a walk around the greens with the Republican terror. No wonder he still relies on his entourage to stay normal

His arms are still absurdly muscular – his T-shirt sleeves straining over his biceps, Popeye-style – but Mark Wahlberg’s handshake is gentle. “Hey,” he says, slumped in his chair in a central London hotel, looking an unpromising mix of bored and glum. The glumness is because his wife and four children are flying back to their home in Los Angeles as we speak. Also, at the age of 45, he is only “just coming round to London”, he says in a tone that strongly suggests this acceptance of the city is, at most, at the mid-point stage.

“The first time I came here, I just couldn’t …” he trails off, before citing...