Mark Wahlberg On FATHER STU: ‘This Movie Couldn’t Be More Timely’
By Movieguide® Staff
Ahead of the release of his new movie, FATHER STU, actor and producer Mark Wahlberg said his faith motivated him to pursue the movie.
“That’s why I wanted to make the movie, I knew that I was supposed to be doing more and challenged to do more, and this movie came to me for a reason and really, chose me,” he told Movieguide®.
Wahlberg stars alongside Mel Gibson, who is no stranger to the challenges of making a faith-based movie in a hostile industry. Wahlberg said that Gibson’s PASSION OF THE CHRIST inspired him to not give up on telling the true story of Father Stuart Long.
“I remember seeing it for the first time and I was just like, ‘Wow, this is an amazing love letter to God,'” he said of PASSION. “So to be able to kind of just take it upon himself to go and do that, it kind of sparked something in me because I was always just trying to do more, trying to figure out creative and unique ways to do something with all the gifts that have been bestowed upon me.”
“I’s such a wild story that I don’t think you march into a major studio and say, ‘I got the next franchise,'” he continued. “So it’s like, ‘How do I get this done?’ And then I remembered that Mel did it and I picked his brain a bit. He was very helpful. I just had to accept the task and not take no for an answer and keep pushing it uphill until I got it made.”
Wahlberg plays Stuart Long in the movie, who eventually converts to Catholicism despite his challenging past.
“He was always looking for his purpose,” Wahlberg explained. “He was angry at the world. It was understandable, his parents had lost a child, his younger brother, at a very early age to a very rare disease, they didn’t know how to cope with that, they left him to his own devices and dealt with it in the best way that they could.”
“He was just kind of angry at the world and searching, he would go look everywhere to find his purpose, and then it kind of found him,” he added. “Then when he found it, that’s when his real power was turned on. It was amazing to see a guy whose everything seemed to be predicated on his physical attributes, and then all of a sudden, for the spirituality to open up like that. It was very powerful.”
Despite its roots in faith, Wahlberg said that FATHER STU is timely for everyone who needs hope and inspiration.
“This is not a movie that’s just for Catholics or Christians, this really is a movie for anybody who’s struggling in life and wants a reminder to be inspired and to never give up hope and to continue to have faith,” he said. “And also to remind people that we’re not giving up on people. We’re gonna love people for who they are, we’re gonna see the good in them, and we’re gonna challenge them to be better and we’re gonna hold ourselves to that same standard, but it’s the only way we’re gonna bring people together. We’re all going through very difficult and uncharted waters. It’s been it’s been a crazy last couple of years for everybody. And so this movie couldn’t be more timely.”
Read Also: FATHER STU’s Mark Wahlberg: ‘People Need to Have Faith And Hope’
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