Vlad Bunoan

Article (news)

Yong Chavez

ABS-CBN News North America

<div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a4pgmbFVeAk?&wmode=opaque&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br></div><p>&ldquo;Wonder Man&rdquo; actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and veteran onscreen hero Mark Wahlberg found themselves at the center of an unlikely pursuit of justice, one that reaches back to a painful chapter of American history whose effects still linger.&nbsp;</p><p>In &ldquo;By Any Means,&rdquo; Wahlberg plays Greg Scarpa, a real-life mob enforcer &nbsp;reportedly recruited by the FBI to help investigate the 1966 murder of Vernon Dahmer, a respected Black businessman and voting rights activist. Abdul-Mateen plays Wayne Strider, a composite of several FBI agents whose partnership with Scarpa creates the movie&rsquo;s central tension that may give the audience some form of catharsis: watching people pursue accountability through a system that had already failed to deliver it.&nbsp;</p><p>That feeling can resonate in an America where questions about consequences and accountability seem to have become part of the daily conversation. &ldquo;By Any Means&rdquo; reaches into a period when local authorities had little interest in solving racially-motivated injustices. The movie turns that history into a crime thriller in which an FBI investigation takes an extraordinary route, pairing a federal agent with a violent criminal because conventional avenues have reached a dead end.</p><p>For Abdul-Mateen, approaching the story meant recognizing the lives behind the screenplay. Scarpa has family members who are still living, as does the Dahmer family, and the actor wanted the production to handle the material with dignity. &ldquo;Anytime we&rsquo;re dealing with the subject matter from history, we&rsquo;re dealing with the real lives of people,&rdquo; he said.</p><div><br></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 960px; display: block;" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788514778856MARK by-any-means-BAM_04-15_MCFADDEN_00273_R_rgb.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align: left;">Mark Wahlberg in &#39;By Any Means.&#39; <em>Paramount</em></span></span></span></div><p>Wahlberg&rsquo;s own preparation began with Scarpa&rsquo;s physical presence. The actor wore a prosthetic nose designed to bring him closer to the way Scarpa looked in photographs, an idea he and Bratton had discussed before filming. &ldquo;I think it would be better to look more like the character looks in real life,&rdquo; Wahlberg recalled the director telling him. Wahlberg was comfortable with the transformation as long as it preserved the movement of his face and allowed him to laugh, smile and speak naturally.</p><p>One image became a particular favorite for the production, showing Scarpa with a toothpick and an intimidating expression. &ldquo;We like that Scarpa right there,&rdquo; Wahlberg said, referencing the real-life video shown at the end of the movie. &ldquo;He looked just mean.&rdquo; People who knew Scarpa have told Wahlberg that the movie actually softens the man&rsquo;s reputation. &ldquo;He was the meanest. Nobody wanted to be around him,&rdquo; Wahlberg said, recalling a conversation with one of Scarpa&rsquo;s former associates.</p><p>That reputation is part of what makes the film&rsquo;s central partnership so compelling. Scarpa enters an FBI investigation as an outsider whose methods and moral boundaries exist far from the rules governing federal agents, while Strider has to navigate an institution whose pursuit of justice unfolds against the realities of race and power in 1960s Mississippi. Their alliance creates a volatile dynamic in which every step forward carries its own ethical complication.</p><p>Director Elegance Bratton understood that the chemistry between the two actors would determine whether the premise worked. When I asked what the biggest creative decision he made for the film was, he readily admitted that it was casting Mark and Yahya. &ldquo;They were my first choice from the very beginning. I cast them off of conversations.&rdquo; The decision was largely instinctive, since the pairing might have raise doubts on paper, yet Bratton knew the entire film depended on their relationship. &ldquo;Everything in this movie has to be fought for, especially this one. So the chemistry is the whole movie. It&rsquo;s their relationship. The whole thing dies or lives based off of them.&rdquo;</p><div><br></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 960px; display: block;" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788514666019MARK AND YAHYA by-any-means-BYANYMEANS_2024-04-23_EJA-01110_R_rgb.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align: left;">Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in &#39;By Any Means.&#39; <em>Paramount</em></span></span></span></div><p>Once Wahlberg and Abdul-Mateen were on set, Bratton could rely on the preparation he had done before production. He and his husband and producing partner, Chester Algernal Gordon, created 400- to 600-page lookbooks filled with cinematic references, including Hong Kong cinema, particularly the films of John Woo, whose use of emotion through violence became a significant influence. The director also conducted extensive research with the people connected to the case.</p><p>That preparation gave Bratton a detailed understanding of the world he was creating, while his directing process left room for the actors to challenge what he had built. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m an actor&rsquo;s director,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When we get on set, I try to treat everyone like they&rsquo;re the director of what they do, especially my actors. I give them the reins, and I say, &lsquo;Hey, this is what we built. Tell me what I don&rsquo;t know about it.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>The history itself could still be frightening to inhabit. Bratton grew up seeing the symbols of the Klan as a familiar language of terror, which made filming those scenes an experience that could move quickly from professional concentration to something deeply personal. &ldquo;You see that hood, you see that cross. It&rsquo;s terrifying,&rdquo; he said. On one day of filming, he arrived to find roughly 20 white men in hoods and burning crosses. He had to remind himself that he was there as the director, even as his body recognized the imagery for what it represented.</p><p>Location scouting brought the same history into the present. The production struggled to find places in Georgia where it could film the Klan scenes because some people feared that burning a cross could attract contemporary Klan members. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a bat signal. It might come down and start the race war,&rdquo; Bratton recalled being told. The experience strengthened his sense that the threat of violence represented in the movie remains pervasive and invisible.</p><p>Abdul-Mateen&rsquo;s performance carries that awareness into scenes where Strider has to calculate danger in an instant. When a police officer pulls him over, fear registers alongside the character&rsquo;s determination to behave correctly, because he understands the consequences of making the wrong move. Bratton captured the psychological reality of a Black federal agent operating in a place where his badge does not offer protection from the forces surrounding him.</p><div><br></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 960px; display: block;" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788514703879YAHYA by-any-means-BYANYMEANS_2024-04-23_EJA-01179_R_rgb.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align: left;">Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in &#39;By Any Means.&#39; <em>Paramount</em></span></span></span></div><p>For Abdul-Mateen, that performance represents an evolution in his own approach to acting. &ldquo;Hopefully I&rsquo;m growing. Hopefully I&rsquo;m taking things less serious,&rdquo; he said, describing his goal as finding a better balance between preparation and being present in the scenes. His career has moved across theater, television, and film, with an Emmy-winning performance in &ldquo;Watchmen&rdquo; and projects like &ldquo;The Trial of the Chicago 7,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Aquaman&rdquo;. &ldquo;By Any Means&rdquo; gives him another opportunity to work inside a genre while using the character to explore fear, duty, and the complicated psychology of a man confronting institutional failure.</p><p>Wahlberg has spent decades moving between music, acting and producing, building a career that includes major dramas, action films, and comedies. His performance in &ldquo;The Departed&rdquo; earned him an Academy Award nomination. &ldquo;By Any Means&rdquo; places him in a role that asked him to inhabit a historical figure whose real-life behavior was considerably more severe than what could comfortably be shown on screen.</p><p>Wahlberg also sees his acting process as something that continues to develop with age and experience. &ldquo;You get more confident in what you&rsquo;re doing, and more comfortable in your process,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I feel like I&rsquo;m just kind of hitting my stride.&rdquo; He says he wants to take more risks and embrace playing his age. &ldquo;By Any Means&rdquo; gave him an opportunity to immerse himself in a character outside the roles he would typically choose.</p><p>Bratton&rsquo;s career has similarly grown around stories of identity, institutions, and the pressures they place on individuals. His critically acclaimed 2022 feature &ldquo;The Inspection&rdquo; drew on his own experience in the Marine Corps. &ldquo;By Any Means&rdquo; brings those interests into a crime thriller rooted in racial violence, giving him a genre framework for examining how people behave when the institutions around them have failed.</p><p>Scarpa&rsquo;s presence carries an uncomfortable energy because he represents a form of power outside the law, while Strider represents an institution struggling to use its authority effectively. The audience is left watching a pursuit of justice that depends on people who bring their own compromises to the table, a dynamic that can feel especially relevant at a time when many viewers are wrestling with the question of who actually faces consequences in American life.</p><div><br></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 960px; display: block;" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788514740118MARK by-any-means-BYANYMEANS_2024-04-28_EJA-02511_R_rgb.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align: left;">Mark Wahlberg in &#39;By Any Means.&#39; <em>Paramount</em></span></span></span></div><p>That relevance gives &ldquo;By Any Means&rdquo; a charge beyond its period setting. The film asks viewers to revisit a moment when a Black family was left without meaningful justice after a devastating act of racial violence, then places an audience inside the extraordinary measures that followed. The historical distance makes the circumstances easier to examine, while the contemporary climate makes the underlying frustration harder to ignore.</p><p>The satisfaction the film offers comes from watching the investigation gain momentum and from seeing people refuse to accept a dead end as the final word. Yet the story leaves the audience with the uncomfortable circumstances that made such an alliance necessary in the first place. &ldquo;By Any Means&rdquo; uses the mechanics of a crime thriller to bring those contradictions into focus, while its cast and crew use their own creative instincts to make a decades-old story feel immediate, human, and consequential.</p><p>The film&rsquo;s cast includes Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, and Giancarlo Esposito.</p>

<p>In “By Any Means,” Mark Wahlberg plays Greg Scarpa, a real-life mob enforcer reportedly recruited by the FBI to help investigate the 1966 murder of Vernon Dahmer, a respected Black businessman and voting rights activist.</p>

In “By Any Means,” Mark Wahlberg plays Greg Scarpa, a real-life mob enforcer reportedly recruited by the FBI to help investigate the 1966 murder of Vernon Dahmer, a respected Black businessman and voting rights activist.

Here in Hollywood: When the FBI needed a mobster to solve a murder ‘By Any Means’ necessary

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

BINI

Sudoku

Word of the Day

Lotto

Horoscope

Movies & Series

Here in Hollywood: When the FBI needed a mobster to solve a murder ‘By Any Means’ necessary

Yong Chavez,

ABS-CBN News North America

Published September 04, 2026 06:48 PM PHT

Read More:

By Any Means

Mark Wahlberg

ABS-CBN Newsletter

Your go-to source for the latest news, entertainment highlights, exclusive interviews, and updates on your favorite Kapamilya stars.

ABS-CBN Newsletter

Your go-to source for the latest news, entertainment highlights, exclusive interviews, and updates on your favorite Kapamilya stars.

Sign Up

I have read and agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

Haven't received our newsletter?

Check your inbox to verify and confirm your subscription. If you don’t see it, please check your spam or junk folder.

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.