Mark Wahlberg Gave Up Half His 'Lone Survivor' Paycheck To Ensure Ben Foster Was In The Film

Mark Wahlberg is a big fan of actor Ben Foster.

So big, in fact, that he forfeited half of his salary on the upcoming "Lone Survivor" - the true story of the failed 2005 mission "Operation Red Wings" about four Navy SEALS who were tasked with the mission to capture a Taliban leader - to ensure that the 33-year-old "3:10 To Yuma" actor was cast in the film.

During a Q&A after the world premiere of "Lone Survivor" last night in Los Angeles, Wahlberg revealed this interesting nugget:

"I gave him half my salary, whatever I gave him, to do it because I knew how great he was and for us to be on that mountain together and in the end of it, I could just look at him and it would break my heart knowing that - God, that's my brother and I may never see him again."

Considering Wahlberg made a hefty $16-18 million payday for the next installment of "Transformers," looks like Foster, who was also recently cast as Lance Armstrong in an upcoming biopic, won't be hurting for cash anytime soon.

In the Q&A, Wahlberg went on to passionately praise his "Lone Survivor" co-stars and director Peter Berg:

"I love Pete for what he did and how committed he was. He would never let any one of us forget about what was important in the course of making the movie and whether it was Marcus or the other SEAL guys. If they saw something that didn't ring true, I don't care if it was going to be the biggest stunt sequence in the movie, they would cut, call bulls--t, and grab all of us by the f--king back of the neck and say 'No, do it this way, and do it right and make it real' and if you don't it's a problem. I was really proud to be a part of that."

Wahlberg gave an equally impassioned response when asked about the difficulty of the shoot, seemingly slamming recent remarks Tom Cruise made comparing acting to fighting in Afghanistan.