Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield & Rosa Salazar to Lead Shane Black's 'Play Dirty'

By Darian Scalamoni

    Shane Black (The Nice Guys) has lined up his next feature with a very interesting cast to boot. Mark Wahlberg (Uncharted), LaKeith Stanfield (The Book of Clarence) and Rosa Salazar (Alita: Battle Angel) will star in Play Dirty, a crime thriller at Amazon MGM Studios.

    Wahlberg will play a professional thief by the name of Parker, who after being stabbed in the back and left on his deathbed, aims to score on his biggest job yet. He gets help from his partner, an actor and con artist Grofield (played by Stanfield), but along the way must outsmart a South American dictator, the NY mob and the world's richest man. It sounds very much baked in the DNA that Shane Black makes in his films such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys. It will be nice to see him return to his roots with Play Dirty. There is no word yet on who Salazar will be playing in the film.

    Play Dirty will be based on crime fiction novels that include Wahlberg's Parker character and will be the first project under the partnership Amazon MGM had made with author Donald E. Westlake and Team Downey back in 2022. The aforementioned production company run by Susan and Robert Downey Jr. will work on television projects at Amazon as well. Downey Jr. was attached initially to reunite with Shane Black, who had starred in his previous films Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3, but scheduling issues conflicted, leading to Wahlberg getting the lead role. Both Susan and Robert will produce Play Dirty.

    Wahlberg recently starred in Apple original film, The Family Plan with Michelle Monaghan. However, Wahlberg has been transitioning to doing more producing work rather than acting as he wants to "wind down" his on-screen career. He recently produced the Oscar De La Hoya docuseries, The Golden Boy for HBO. He will next appear in the adventure film, Arthur the King opposite Simu Liu and Nathalie Emmanuel.

    Stanfield already has a movie in theaters for 2024, as he reunited with The Harder They Fall director Jeymes Samuel for the biblical comedy, The Book of Clarence. Stanfield also starred in Apple's fantasy horror series, The Changeling and Disney's Haunted Mansion in 2023. He'll also star in the film, Notes from a Young Black Chef in the near future.

    Salazar is best known for starring in Robert Rodriguez's cult sci-fi film, Alita: Battle Angel. Salazar also starred in the Amazon rotoscope show, Undone alongside Bob Odenkirk. She will next appear in her biggest role yet as she joins the MCU among the cast of Captain America: Brave New World in 2025.