Director David O. Russell tends to gravitate toward subjects that exist on the fringe of celebrity, whether they be professional boxer Micky Ward (2010’s The Fighter) or self-made millionaire Joy Mangano (last year’s Joy). He also tends to stick with a core group of actors he’s worked with before and feels comfortable with. So Collider’s report that Russell is working with Mark Wahlberg on a new film about the tough-guy priest Father Stuart Long makes a lot of sense.
Russell has previously worked with Wahlberg on The Fighter, Three Kings, and I Heart Huckabees, but this may be their most intriguing collaboration yet. Here’s what Wahlberg had to say about “Father Stu” and the film, which he announced in a Facebook Live Q&A today:
“David O. Russell and I right now are working on developing a script on Father Stu, who was an amazing priest from Helena, Montana. He was a very tough guy who was a fighter, a football player … anything but a spiritual guy. He found his calling, and decided, after falling in love with a woman, that he wanted to become a priest. He suffered from this horrible muscular degenerative disease but was still ordained as a priest and passed away, but not before he was able to inspire thousands upon thousands of people.”
Check out Wahlberg’s full Facebook Live chat below. He starts talking about the Russell project around the 14-minute mark. The actor’s latest project is the oil spill drama Deepwater Horizon, due out in theaters September 30th.
