It’s taken over 6 years but Mark Wahlberg’s passion project, ‘Father Stu’ based on the life and death of Stuart Long, a most unlikely Roman Catholic priest, is on the big screen. Long’s journey to ordination began in Montana boxing rings, then moved to LA where instead of hoped-for stardom he clerked in a supermarket. There he met the woman whose catechism classes at a church led to his conversion and, most surprisingly, an application to become a priest. Long did so at great odds, being struck by a rare wasting disease before he was ordained and initially ruled ineligible to continue his seminary studies. Wahlberg was in Boston for the benefit premiere and spoke with The Herald. These are excerpts from that interview.
Q: Mark, you’ve never lost that sense of personal discipline. You’ve been in this business for, what? 25-30 years.
MARK WAHLBERG: 32 years.
Q: Most people start coasting after they’ve been a superstar producer-actor, having been through the business for 20 years. They sort of let up. You just don’t seem to be someone who even thought about that.
MW: No, no, no, no, that’s not that’s not in me I think. First of all, I take a lot of pride in what I do. I’m extremely grateful when somebody gives me an opportunity to be in a film, to produce a film, star in a film. I want to over-deliver always. I feel like I have so much more than I’m capable of as an actor and I want to continue to challenge myself and surprise audiences. So no, I’m more disciplined now than ever. And I am always extremely grateful that I have an opportunity and I certainly wouldn’t do anything to compromise that.
Q This Youth Foundation that you founded – can you talk about the rewards that’s been for you?
MW: Oh, just encouraging lots of kids growing up in similar situations to the one I grew up in. If I was able to accomplish all the things that I did do thru hard work, that there isn’t anything they can’t accomplish. I just tried to put them in a position to be successful. Help them to seek out the opportunity that they’re looking for. Just reminding people that there’s so much that they’re capable of doing — and that I’m their biggest supporter and I believe in them and I want to be an example in every way possible.
Q: I think it was rather daring or chancy or whatever, to give Rosalind Ross the directing job. I mean, she was a screenwriter she’d never directed before. How did how did you come up with that?
MW: I was developing this movie for a while with David O. Russell [They’ve collaborated many times, including ‘Three Kings,’ ‘The Fighter’]. And then we had gotten a script that I didn’t like, that we weren’t going to make. So I don’t know I just had this kind of sense of urgency that I didn’t think other people were really sharing. So when I talked to her about the possibility of trying to take a crack at the script, she really found a unique way into it. I think her just approaching it as a guy who just is trying to find his purpose. With this kind of very colorful backdrop of boxing and Montana and then coming to LA, she did such a good job of putting it on the page that I felt that if she could put it on the page, she could put it on the screen. Of course we wanted to surround her with lots of really talented people. But I think the movie is that much better being told from her point of view.
Q: The film’s surprising in that it’s so funny. You’re working with Mel Gibson [he plays Stu’s long-estranged father]. Of course, his ‘The Passion of the Christ’ broke all the rules and was a global success. What advice did he give you about trying to bring a faith-themed movie into the marketplace?
MW: He just encouraged me to — if I was in a position — to just go do it on my own. To be able to finance it just kind of gives you complete creative control. So I got to pick his brain. I certainly found it very inspiring. I know Bill [Long, Stuart’s father, contributed heavily to Ross’s understanding of the man] was so tickled that Mel was playing him in the movie. He was Bill’s only choice. So to see that — and obviously it’s a great father-son dynamic in the movie as well.
NEW DVDs:
COSTNER TIMES TWO In 1985 Kevin Costner had 3 films open, a direct result of 2 years earlier being cut from a surprise hit, the 1983 ‘The Big Chill.’ Costner had a key role as the guy who was the first to die among a group of college friends but onscreen he only managed to be the corpse awaiting burial. It took 2 years for the wheels to really roll and see Costner ‘overnight’ achieve leading man status. The only semi-successful picture of this ’85 trilogy was the Western ‘Silverado’ directed by Kevin Reynolds who would be a key player in Costner’s ascension to becoming one of the major stars of the ‘80s-90s. The other 2, now in Blu-rays: ‘Fandango’ (Blu-ray, WB, PG) which is also directed by Reynolds and casts Costner as a 1971 college grad who assembles his buds for a wild ride across Texas, a ride that will bury worries about the Vietnam draft, an imminent wedding or the real-life task of getting a job. ‘American Flyers’ (Blu-ray, WB, PG-13) is directed by ‘Saturday Night Fever’ maestro John Badham with a prestige script by ‘Breaking Away’ Oscar winner Steve Tesich that finds estranged brothers (Costner and David Grant) in a cycling endurance contest to repair their tattered sibling relationship.
EARLY GERMAN SIODMAK ‘Farewell’ (Blu-ray, Kino Classics, Not Rated) is notable as an early German-made film by Robert Siodmak who would flee Nazi rule in 1933, land eventually in Hollywood where he was recognized as a defining noir auteur (‘The Killers,’ ‘Phantom Lady,’ ‘Criss Cross,’ ‘The Spiral Staircase’) before returning to his homeland in the early ’50s for the final phase of his impressive career. A comedy, the 1930 ‘Farewell’ was the director’s first sound film and was restored in 1998 before transferred to Blu-ray for this improved print. In German with English subtitles. Extras: An alternate ‘happy’ ending and an audio commentary by film historian Anthony Slide.
CATHERINE’S REIGN BEGINS ‘The Great Season Two’ (DVD, 10 episodes, 4 discs, Paramount, Not Rated) sees Elle Fanning’s Catherine the Great finally ascend Russia’s throne where she discovers her ambitious plans for the feudal nation are not exactly shared by others, including her mother. Funny, sexy and smart, ‘The Great’ or as it is titled onscreen ‘The Great: An Almost Entirely Untrue Story,’ offers deleted scenes and a blooper reel.
JOAQUIN IN BLACK & WHITE Writer-director Mike Mills is beloved in certain Hollywood circles for his ability to write psychologically layered character portraits that actors find irresistible. Christopher Plummer won an Oscar playing a version of Mills’ gay dad in ‘Beginners’ and Mills was Oscar nominated for his feminist-leaning screenplay for ‘20th Century Women.’ ‘C’mon C’mon’ (Blu-ray + Digital, Lionsgate, R), in black-and-white, is a study of a 40something loner (Joaquin Phoenix) having a life change when he’s given temporary supervision of his nephew (Britain’s Woody Norman, a find). If it’s fairly predictable and borderline sentimental, it’s done with elan and bolstered by Phoenix who seems incapable of a false note. Bonus: Mills offers an audio commentary and there’s a Making of featurette.
PENELOPE’S COMPLEX PORTRAIT Penelope Cruz collaborated for the 7th time with writer-director Pedro Almodovar for ‘Parallel Mothers’ (Blu-ray, Sony Pictures Classics, R), a complex saga that involves, yes, switched at birth babies, destiny, legacy, bisexuality. And photography. Cruz’s faith in her filmmaking master was rewarded with a Best Actress Oscar nomination, her fourth. She’s commanding in a film staged with the auteur’s bold and now practically trademarked style.
BACK ON THE JOB William Petersen came back for the 2021 ‘CSI: Vegas — Season One’ (DVD, 10 episodes, 3 discs, CBSDVD, Not Rated), the 5th in the super-successful franchise. It’s been renewed, minus Petersen, for another season. S1 starts with the Vegas CSI lab under threat, a hacking that could mean thousands of convicted prisoners freed. Then a wealthy couple are murdered on their wedding day, exposing a dark underside of Vegas. Also dead, a video game developer just before a gaming tournament and the arrival of Internal Affairs to do an investigation. Special Features: Deleted scenes, featurettes on ‘Seeing Is Believing,’ ‘Everything Old is New Again.’
LOW-KEY COLLINS Clifton Collins Jr. dominates ‘Jockey’ (Blu-ray, Sony Pictures Classics, R), a low-key, naturalistic portrait of what may be the final season for a veteran of riding race horses. Adding to the mix of whether he can physically do what he’s always done is a new young hotshot jockey who claims to be his son. Bonus: Deleted scenes.
’70s HORROR TIMES 2 ‘Screams of a Winter Night’ (Blu-ray, Code Red, PG) has a classic premise where on a dark & stormy night, college kids arrive at a cabin by the lake – and tell 3 scary stories to each other. At least this 1979 low-budget classic was thought to tell just 3 tales but a 4th, about a witch, has been recovered with a 2K scan from the director’s UNCUT original 16mm negative. Bonus: On camera interview with star Gil Glasgow. Shelly Winters had 2 Oscars. John Huston had 2 Oscars from 15 nominations. Somehow, they both ended up as above-the-title stars of the 1977 post-‘Jaws’ horror entry ‘Tentacles’ (Blu-ray, KL Studio Classics, PG). The less than credible premise has a gigantic octopus terrorizing a small town. ‘It’s angry. It’s hungry’ the case description promises – and who are we to argue! Especially with the remarkable output of Italian producer Ovidio G. Assonitis, known for ‘Beyond the Door,’ ‘Madhouse’ and ‘The Curse.’
BERLIN IN THE ‘30s Germany’s biggest star, Tom Schilling, carries this Weimar-era drama ‘Fabian: Going to the Dogs’ (Blu-ray, Kino Lorber, Not Rated), adapted from a 1931 novel. Jakob Fabian is a cynic with a best friend Stephen Labude as they spend nights in brothels and drinking. That changes when he meets and falls for aspiring actress Cornelia. As his fortunes fall, as Stephen suffers severe insecurity, Cornelia becomes a movie star. Life, however, is never easy – as tragedy looms. Bonus: Film critic Olaf Moller’s audio commentary.
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Stephen Schaefer's HOLLYWOOD & MINE - Boston Herald
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