The city that saved Mark Wahlberg

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I was talking yesterday with my super-awesome cousin Jessica about how I like Mark Wahlberg (as an actor) ever since he played the role of "Tommy Corn" in I Heart Huckabees (2004). Wahlberg's character Tommy Corn was a Fireman and environmentalist who rides his bike everywhere because he can't bring himself to consume petroleum and support the greedy corporations while ruining the environment. In the movie, he compares using Petroleum to murder (See video clip below).

Cousin Jessica informed me that Wahlburg had purchased a ticket to fly from his hometown Boston to Los Angeles on the morning of Thursday, September 11th, 2001 on United Flight 93. His plans changed at the last minute when he decided on September 10th to go to Toronto to attend some Toronto International Film Festival parties before flying to Los Angeles directly from Toronto instead of via Boston.

After a night of partying in Toronto, he was woken up on the morning of September 11th (He said it was very hard to get up that morning), and he was told about the hijackings that took place that day (See the Toronto Star article). He claims that he was haunted for some time after September 11th.

Wahlberg said in an interview in 2004 that the character he portrayed in I Heart Huckabees was 80% himself. Wahlberg had a tough childhood; when he was 16 he was charged with attempted murder after beating up some people while he was on drugs. Having a near-death experience such as his experience on September 11th probably helped him look at life differently. I wonder if he would have even taken the role in I Heart Huckabees had he not purchased the ticket for United Flight 93?

Here's a clip of Wahlberg in I Heart Huckabees: