(Daily Mail) Actor Mark Wahlberg is pushing to create a new Hollywood in Las Vegas months after he left his Los Angeles home to give his kids a ‘better life.’
Wahlberg on Wednesday lobbied Nevada state lawmakers to pass a bill that would increase tax credits for film production from $10 million per year to $190 million per year over the next 20 years.
‘I would love to see us building studios, creating jobs and just diversifying the economy,’ Wahlberg told CNBC. ‘I’ve moved my last film here. I’m shooting another film here coming up in the summertime.’
The 51-year-old actor put his 12-bedroom, 20-bathroom Beverly Hills mansion on the market for $87.5 million last year and bid the Golden State farewell in hopes of giving his children a ‘better life’ in income tax-free Nevada.
Wahlberg’s push is the latest among celebrities and states looking for a new filming capital after liberal policies in California have led to high taxes, increased ‘wokeness,’ crime and rampant homelessness.
Actor Mark Wahlberg, 51, is pushing to create a new Hollywood in Las Vegas months after he left his Los Angeles home to give his kids a ‘better life’
Wahlberg’s move to Nevada in October comes after he put his astonishing 12-bedroom, 20-bathroom Beverly Hills mansion on the market for $87.5 million in April of last year
Wahlberg bought a $15.6million 2.5-acre block of land in an exclusive area that he plans to build out, as well as a $14.5million bungalow (pictured) to live in as construction begins
Wahlberg, who is a Christian, was one of many celebrities who made the exodus out of California over the state’s countless problems that have seen few fixes.
In an interview earlier this year posted by the ‘Today’ YouTube channel, he said, ‘[My faith] it’s everything, it really has, it’s afforded me so many things. … God didn’t come here to save the saints, He came to save the sinners.’
Other celebrities have also fled the democratic state including Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and Matt Damon.
‘I think there’s so much more opportunity to be created here. There’s so much growth and so much potential, it’s a wonderful opportunity for everybody to prosper,’ he said.
Wahlberg has made at least two purchases in the Silver State, a $15.6million 2.5-acre block of land in an exclusive area that he plans to build out, as well as a $14.5million bungalow to live in as construction begins, according to Elite Agent.
He told Fox Business he hopes Sin City will become Hollywood 2.0.
‘We’re looking to create 10,000 jobs on the studio alone,’ he said.
‘The average salary would be $100,000 more than what it is now. We want to train people both in front of and behind the camera, create jobs, most importantly, first and foremost, for locals.’
The huge, expensive plot of land in Nevada’s exclusive Summit Club where Wahlberg hopes to begin construction
Nevada lawmakers are set to vote on the SB 496 that Democratic Nevada Senator Roberta Lange, who introduced the bill, refers to as ‘The Film Bill.’
It proposes up to $190 million in tax breaks each year for production studios to operate in Southern Nevada until 2043.
The first studio is in the southwest valley at Durango Drive and Sunset Road off the 215 Beltway, and referred to as ‘Zone One,’ would also serve as an education pipeline for UNLV film students through an $8 million training facility on-site.
Plans were revealed on Wednesday for a second location, Summerlin South at Flamingo Road and Town Center Drive, which would be 60 acres to be used for a ‘mixed-use, vibrant’ retail space and possibly a hotel.
‘The studio includes both your three-story buildings where you build sets, your sound stages. It includes a volume studio, which is those green rooms where they filmed things like Star Wars and the Mandalorian,’ Howard Hughes Corporation CEO David O’Reilly said.
Although Boston-native Wahlberg lived in his Beverly Hills mansion for more than a decade, he described his time in California almost as if it was a missed opportunity.
‘I want to be able to work from home. I moved to California many years ago to pursue acting and I’ve only made a couple of movies in the entire time that I was there,’ he explained.
‘So, to be able to give my kids a better life and follow and pursue their dreams whether it be my daughter as an equestrian, my son as a basketball player, my younger son as a golfer, this made a lot more sense for us.’
Wahlberg — who shares Ella, 19; Michael, 16; Brendan, 14; and Grace, 12, with his wife Rhea Durham, 44 — may have only been referring to films shot near his home or in California, as he has starred in around 30 films since purchasing his Beverly Hills land in 2009.
Wahlberg praised Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo on his efforts to enhance Nevada’s economic base.
‘There’s lots of opportunity for growth here, and the government, especially our new governor, is really looking for opportunities to create jobs outside of gaming,’ he said.
Wahlberg, 51, spoke about moving out of Los Angeles and uprooting his family for Nevada to give them a ‘better life’ during an appearance on The Talk; seen in 2015
