Mark Wahlberg's dramatic new look for 'Flight Risk' leaves wife speechless

"But the most priceless thing was seeing my wife's face when I took my hat off," Mark Wahlberg shares.

Mark Wahlberg has fully committed to his role in the upcoming thriller "Flight Risk," directed by Mel Gibson, by adopting a dramatic new look that has turned heads both on and off the set. 

In the film, Wahlberg plays a pilot tasked with transporting an Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery) and a fugitive (Topher Grace) across the Alaskan wilderness. 

However, it soon emerges that the pilot is also a hired hitman, intent on eliminating the fugitive.

For this intense role, Wahlberg underwent a significant transformation, opting to shave his head daily to achieve the look of his character rather than wearing a bald cap. 

"There was no bald cap," Wahlberg told PEOPLE. "I shaved the middle and left the horseshoe around the sides. We just shaved it. They would shave the top as close to the scalp as possible every day, obviously, because we didn't have any stubble or anything. So I just hid it with a hat. But the most priceless thing was seeing my wife's face when I took my hat off after getting the hair cut for work that day."

Wahlberg's drastic change surprised not only his wife, Rhea Durham, but also their four children: Ella, 20, Michael, 18, Brendan, 15, and Grace, 14. 

"Oh, they're gonna love it," Wahlberg says of his bald head. "My kids — my boys especially — they loved the hair cut. They got a lot of laughs out of that."

Maintaining his bald look for the 22 days of filming, Wahlberg eagerly grew his hair back once filming concluded, expressing relief at leaving the character's look behind.

"For me, yeah, it's not fun," he added. "Hopefully I can just kind of become the character. Wearing a fake either a wig or mustache, I always feel like it feels ridiculous."