Mark Wahlberg 'hopes to shoot Fighter 2 in next year'

Mark Wahlberg has said that he hopes to shoot The Fighter 2 soon.

The Contraband star revealed that director David O Russell is no longer involved with the project, telling The Playlist that he "had a problem with his draft".

"We got to do that film before I get too old," Wahlberg said. "So maybe in the next year, year and a half. We have to wait for the script, and then we'll choose a director."

The actor went on to say that he would like Contraband director Baltasar Kormákur to consider taking on the job of helming The Fighter 2.

"I'd love to be involved with anything he does, either as an actor or a director," Wahlberg said. "He's so hands-on. He would even try to show me how to do the stunts, but he's clumsy, so he would bang his head on the cement! And he'd be like, 'Don't worry'."

"He's kooky," he continued. "He can do anything. I'd love to do a fight scene with him someday - he looks like he can take me. I can see it his eyes, that glimmer, when you're beating the crap out of somebody? He makes it real. So he's a great man, a great friend, a great colleague. I want to be attached at the hip with him."

Wahlberg is currently at work on a basketball film starring Justin Bieber, a project he has described as "intuitive".

Watch a trailer for The Fighter below: