Mark Wahlberg says Justin Bieber really 'can act,' talks about status of their upcoming basketball movie

Justin Bieber has been in talks with Mark Wahlberg to star in a basketball flick, but the film has been stalled so that it can get the proper re-writes it needs to become the best it can be.

This would be Bieber’s first feature film that displays his acting and the pop star has said he needs to hit the gym to fine-tune his basketball skills.

But Wahlberg recently opened up about the project to MTV News, saying not only is the “Boyfriend” singer a good basketball player, but he’s a good actor as well.

"Obviously, [Bieber] is a very good athlete,” said the veteran actor. “People have seen him on MTV; he can play. But I also really think he can act."

The Ted star went on to say that he has no problem pushing Bieber to get the best performance out of him.

“There's not going to be any shortage of pushing him in getting that kind of strong performance out of him, if we get to make the movie," he said. "We're just going to have to make him realize that he's playing a character so he can't have the same hairdo.”

As for whether or not Bieber will show off his famous voice, Wahlberg said there will “absolutely not” be any singing in the film.

This isn’t his first film as he released his concert documentary Justin Bieber: Never Say Never and he a small cameo in Men in Black III, but this will mark his first big role.