{"id":19112,"date":"2022-04-11T10:36:24","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T14:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=19112"},"modified":"2023-03-02T14:20:36","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T19:20:36","slug":"mark-wahlberg-goes-against-hollywood-studios-and-funds-new-faith-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/04\/mark-wahlberg-goes-against-hollywood-studios-and-funds-new-faith-film.html","title":{"rendered":"Mark Wahlberg Goes Against Hollywood Studios and Funds New Faith Film"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_23895\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23895\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2022\/04\/mark-wahlberg_credit-siriusXM-youtube-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23895\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2022\/04\/mark-wahlberg_credit-siriusXM-youtube-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-23895\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SiriusXM \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Famous actor Mark Wahlberg revealed that he received resistance from Hollywood and the Catholic Church about his faith-based movie \u201cFather Stu.\u201d Still, he felt the world needed to experience the powerful testimony. The devout Catholic spent several years pitching the religious drama to Hollywood studios. But in his words, \u201cHollywood doesn\u2019t make films like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The movie is based on actual events and tells the story of boxer-turned-priest Father Stuart Long and his incredible journey from \u201cself-destruction to redemption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wahlberg, who partially used his own money to fund the film, plays Father Stu. He is joined on-screen by Academy Award-winner Mel Gibson, who plays his father, Bill Long. The Sony Pictures film features heavy vulgarity and is rated R. Still, it\u2019s inspiring at its core, sharing the power of transformation in Christ.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so nice to hear the kind of reaction that we\u2019re hearing and people all being touched by the film for one reason or another,\u201d Wahlberg shared with The Christian Post. \u201cNothing worse than being like, \u2018OK, I\u2019m obligated to go out there promote with you because I was paid to do the movie.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wahlberg continued, \u201cIt\u2019s a different thing when you actually paid for the movie yourself. But the movie was so blessed, and really many times there was a real intercession from some sort of higher power; I would have to say it would be God.\u201d In a SiriusXM interview with Cardinal Dolan, Wahlberg discussed how he felt that the film chose him.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IZhr2BxiYPc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Wahlberg spent six \u201cslow years\u201d trying to get to where the movie would finally be made. When the time came, the project was filmed in 30 days during the pandemic in 2021. After combing through many failed scripts, it was the script by Rosalind Ross that captured Father Stu\u2019s true essence. So Wahlberg asked Ross to both write and direct the film. However, the struggles didn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n<p>According to Wahlberg, Hollywood wasn\u2019t the only entity resisting the film. He said, \u201cI was met with resistance not only from studios to make this movie, but also from the Church, which I was really surprised about,\u201d Wahlberg said. \u201cBut then I realized, they opened to Page 1, and Bill\u2019s using the F word, and in Page 2, he used it again. Then next thing you know, \u2018this is vulgar, and this is unacceptable\u2019 without really understanding what the message was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, Wahlberg maintained that the movie is about \u201clove, hope, and redemption,\u201d showing that \u201cnobody is beyond redemption.\u201d\u00a0The actor admitted that he was worried about sending the film to certain people, including the archbishop. Wahlberg said that the archbishop\u2019s most significant issue with the film is the vulgar language. However, after watching the movie in its entirety, he understood that it was part of Father Stu\u2019s journey. Wahlberg also admitted that he still uses foul language but wants to promote God\u2019s message of acceptance and transformation.<\/p>\n<p>The Diocese of Helena in Montana, under which Father Stu served, praised Wahlberg\u2019s passion for making the film, saying in a statement that it appreciates \u201cthe thoughtful and diligent work of the production team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Famous actor Mark Wahlberg revealed that he received resistance from Hollywood and the Catholic Church about his faith-based movie \u201cFather Stu.\u201d Still, he felt the world needed to experience the powerful testimony. The devout Catholic spent several years pitching the religious drama to Hollywood studios. But in his words, \u201cHollywood doesn\u2019t make films like this.\u201d&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":19115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3383,3957,3],"tags":[5117,4245],"class_list":["post-19112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-celebrity","category-christian-movies","category-movies","tag-father-stu","tag-mark-wahlberg"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mark Wahlberg Goes Against Hollywood Studios and Funds New Faith Film<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wahlberg shared that he met resistance from Hollywood and the Catholic Church on the film, but felt the world needed this testimony.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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