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Mark Wahlberg and David O. Russell Are Reteaming for a New Biopic

2011 National Board Of Review Of Motion Pictures Gala - Inside Arrivals
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

After a multi-film fascination with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, Joy), David O. Russell is returning to his first and truest muse: Mark Wahlberg. In a Facebook Live post that streamed on Wednesday, Wahlberg shared that he and his The Fighter director (they also made Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees together, for those keeping score) are reteaming for a new biopic about Father Stuart Long. If you’re unfamiliar with “Father Stu,” as Wahlberg calls him because he is that familiar, Long was a football player turned priest from Helena, Montana, who died in 2014. Says Wahlberg: “He was a very tough guy who was a fighter, a football player, anything but a spiritual guy. Then 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.” Wahlberg and Russell are currently working on the script for the project. Does this mean that Wahlberg will have to spend an extended period of time trying to sound like he’s from Montana? Only time will tell. The career Bostonian talks about the project starting at around the 14:00 mark in the video below.

Mark Wahlberg and David O. Russell Are Reteaming