10 Jan – Two-time Golden Globe Awards nominees Mark Wahlberg will return for his role as Micky Ward in the sequel of 2010's "The Fighter" without director David O. Russell, according to a report on ComingSoon.net. Wahlberg revealed that "The Fighter 2" would emphasize on Ward's famous battle with Canadian boxer, Arturo Gatti, after a small portion of Ward's life was overshadowed in the first movie. Wahlberg and his team are currently waiting for Scott Silver's script to commence production. With the expansion of the much publicised rift between the "Max Payne" star and David O. Russell, Wahlberg recommended his latest movie, "Contraband" director Baltasar Kormakur for the directing seat of the sequel. "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'." However the 40 year-old actor admitted that aging might weakened his ability to play Micky Ward in "The Fighter 2". "Well [I'd like to start shooting] sooner rather than later, I mean I'm not getting any younger although Stallone did film "Rocky 6" when he was 60, and he filmed the first one when he was 29. But I would like to do it within the next year, or year and a half." Currently Wahlberg is working with pop star Justin Bieber in a basketball movie, a project he has described as "intuitive". Wahlberg's "Contraband" will be released in Malaysian and Singaporean cinemas on 12 January 2012.