Exclusive: How By Any Means director earned Mark Wahlberg, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s ‘trust’

Doing a movie with as emotional subject matter as By Any Means, which stars Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, can be tricky, but director Elegance Bratton, who previously made The Inspection, rose to the occasion.

There was a lot of trust required by the actors in the director. It goes without saying that Bratton’s sophomore feature has sensitive subject matter. By Any Means follows a young Black FBI agent, Wayne Strider (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who teams up with hitman Gregory Scarpa (Mark Wahlberg) to investigate the murder of Vernon Dahmer (Giancarlo Esposito) in Mississippi in 1966.

“It feels very affirming and validating,” Bratton said of having his actors’ trust. “I think for me, this career is as much a result of visualization and manifestation as it is a very hard material work.”

He elaborated that he has “always been partial to movie stars and great actors.” Fortunately, he has both in Wahlberg and Abdul-Mateen.

“I’m fortunate that I have the combination in both of these actors,” he raved about his leads. “They’re both stars, and they’re incredible actors, and I found them to be good people as well. I feel really, really grateful for that. I feel validated and seen.”

The foundation of Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s “trust” in By Any Means director Elegance Bratton

As for building the foundation of their relationship, Bratton, a self-appointed “actor’s director,” treats everyone equally. That goes from the actors to all of the below-the-line workers. He gets that same respect back. Bratton is like a sports coach who knows how to bring his team together when their backs are against the wall.

“I tend to treat everyone on my set. I try, at least, to treat everyone on my set as if they’re the director of what they do. And so the same respect and seriousness and attention to detail that I expect, I try my very best to give each and every person I interact with on a set.”

It certainly helps that Bratton had two actors who have done plenty of action in the past to lean on. Wahlberg’s done countless action flicks, and Abdul-Mateen was just in Marvel’s Wonder Man series. He’s also been in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Watchmen, and The Matrix Resurrections. Their “experience” helped Bratton hand them the reins.

“I trust my actors. I’m an actor’s director. I love going into the paint with them and coming up with art, and I have these two action stars as well, so they brought so much experience to this production,” he explained. “So I think trusting people and being good to people is how you create trust and get good behavior back, I hope.”

Bratton has long had an affinity for Wahlberg, dating back to his days in Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. At one point, he owned the “Good Vibrations” single and had the iconic Calvin Klein poster of the actor.

“I don’t have it anymore,” a smiling Bratton conceded. “I don’t know where that single’s at right now — I hope that single’s okay; I hope the cover art is still intact, and whoever has it right now, whatever thrift store it ended up in, they appreciate it the way I did.

“But yeah, I had the single. I had the Calvin Klein poster… I was all in,” he added.

By Any Means is in theaters.

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