Wahlberg’s weight loss shocks director

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mark Wahlberg (photo) said Transformers director Michael Bay “freaked out” after the actor shed 60 lbs. to play a down-on-his-luck college professor in his new movie, The Gambler.

Wahlberg began downsizing his famously muscular physique by jumping rope and sticking to a liquid diet as Transformers: Age of Extinction wrapped last year. He then shot The Gambler, set to open in theaters Dec. 19.

Transformers producers called for additional shooting after The Gambler wrapped, and Wahlberg wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms when he attended Bay’s housewarming party earlier this year.

“He goes, ‘You look like crap! What are you going to do? We’ve got to shoot in five weeks,’” Wahlberg said in an interview before his new film’s AFI Fest premiere Monday night.

“I probably put on 40 lbs. back. But it still wasn’t enough for him. He said, ‘Aw, I’ve got to shoot you like this to make you look cool again,”’ the 43-year-old actor said. “He’s a perfectionist. He was more upset than my wife (Rhea Durham). I mean, my wife was a little freaked out that I was losing this much weight, but he was really freaked out.”