<Li> Kristin Richardson as Samantha </Li> <P> After The New York Times ran a story on Tim "Ripper" Owens in 1997, various Hollywood studios ran to option the filming rights . Warner Bros. won the bid, and hired John Stockwell to write the script . Stockwell soon began researching the heavy metal music and tribute band scene and visited Owens' hometown of Akron, Ohio . Afterwards the project, under the working title Metal God, got the involvement of George Clooney's newly founded Maysville Pictures . Brad Pitt signed to star in 1998, but wound up dropping the project following creative differences with the studio . Eventually Mark Wahlberg, a former rapper with Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch who co-starred with Clooney in Three Kings, was hired for the main role in May 1999 . Stephen Herek signed to direct in October, and the following month Jennifer Aniston became attached for the main female role, while Callie Khouri was hired to revise the script . </P> <P> Wahlberg spent five months preparing for his role as Chris Cole, working with a vocal coach, growing his hair, attending the metal scene and wandering around Los Angeles in - character . A concert scene was shot at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena before 10,000 Metallica and Megadeth fans . While filming one Steel Dragon performance, the crew pranked Wahlberg by playing Marky Mark's "Good Vibrations" instead of a rock track, and footage of this is featured during the film's end credits . By 2001, Warner renamed the project from Metal God to Rock Star in order to attract a broader rock fandom instead of just metal fans . </P> <P> The film opened at No. 4 at the U.S. box office raking in US $6,018,636 in its opening weekend, and grossing a domestic total of $17,008,282 and $2,325,863 internationally for a worldwide gross of $19,334,145; based on a $57 million budget, Rock Star was a box office bomb . </P>

Did mark wahlberg do his own singing in the movie rockstar