Mark Wahlberg, the brother of St. Charles resident Donnie Wahlberg, is starring in an inspiring new movie based on the true story of boxer-turned-priest Father Stuart Long.
God wanted a fighter and He found one. @MarkWahlberg stars in the inspiring true-life story, Father Stu. Exclusively in movie theaters this Easter. #FatherStuMovie pic.twitter.com/m2DHiJuAki
— FatherStuMovie (@FatherStuMovie) February 10, 2022
The movie is scheduled to be released in theaters on April 13.
In the movie, Wahlberg portrays Long, who, after a career in boxing didn’t work out, moved from Montana to Los Angeles to try to become a movie star. After a near-fatal accident, Long became a priest.
While in seminary, doctors diagnosed Fr. Stu with inclusion body myositis after removing a fist-sized tumor from his hip. The rare inflammatory disease causes muscle damage and weakness. The disease caused the slowing down of his body, even at his 2007 ordination.
Fr. Stu died in 2014 at the age of 50.
Actor and director Mel Gibson also stars in the film, playing the role of Fr. Stu’s father.
Recently, Fox Valley Magazine’s Kevin Ketchum and others caught up with Wahlberg at the Peninsula Hotel in Chicago to discuss his latest project.
A friend told you about Father’s Stu story. What was it that drew you to a story that made you want to make this movie and share that story with the people?
Wahlberg: Well, I couldn’t find any reason to not want to make it. Once I was actually smart enough to realize that this was an amazing opportunity, trying to tell a story, but to do something that would be more focused on my faith and giving back, and a love letter for me, really, to God.
The selfish reasons, as an actor, I’ve never found a part that had more of an arc and be able to show more range. As a filmmaker, a storyteller, to tell something that was so overboard with inspiration and hope. Timing wise, where people need to be reminded that people are not beyond redemption and people need to be included and loved and supported, not forgotten and turned upon. So this is a wonderful movie that reaffirms my faith and gives people hope and faith, and it’s a wonderful story that I think is really…well, leaving the theater very hopeful and optimistic about the future and how to handle difficult times. Certainly watching Stu handle it with grace and dignity.
How was this project different from any other project you’ve been involved with?
Wahlberg: Again, I’ve made movies that have been very, very important and thought-provoking and starting up conversation and dialogue, but this one couldn’t be more timely. And that’s also why I was so committed to getting it made even to the point where I had to finance it myself. That was a first, too.
How did this making of this movie affect your personal relationship with Jesus?
Wahlberg: It was at a really difficult time, because we made the move in the middle of a pandemic when it’s the only time I can really remember that my faith was really tested and it was just a different time were you couldn’t go to church, couldn’t connect with people, losing touch with people in the community and just sharing worship with other people, experiencing the Eucharist, all that stuff. I never experienced anything like it.
So I, like everybody else, had a very, very rough, up-and-down couple of years, but this is reaffirming my faith and my commitment to serving God and doing better and trying everything I can to do my part.
How hard was it to get the movie made and get it into development, and what were the biggest challenges?
Wahlberg: Getting a script that we love that really captured the essence of who Stu was, and also the balance of humor, realness, edge, heart, and ultimately being uplifting at the same time, making a movie about a guy who’s dying of a terrible, incurable disease, but at the same time, making people feel really good about it, knowing that inevitably we all face mortality and those issues.
So getting the screenplay right. Trying to get it made and having doors close, which was fine. I didn’t knock on too many. I went to a couple people that I thought would get it. They didn’t, and I just said, “Okay, I just got to do it on my own.” And that was the challenge.
But once we got there, then we had the bigger challenge of shooting the movie because we had very little time. We had five and a half years to get it to the starting gate and only 30 days to shoot it. So that was a big challenge, but we were able to make the best version of the movie and it’s really touching people in a very special and unique way, so we’re excited about that.
Part II of our interview with Wahlberg will be published tomorrow at foxvalleymagazine.com.
