THERE was little saintly about bad boy brawler Mark Wahlberg when he burst into Hollywood a quarter of a century ago.
In his youth the American actor, rapper and model had been a drug dealer and jailbird.
Portraying well-endowed porn star Dirk Diggler in his breakthrough movie Boogie Nights in 1997 only reinforced that wild man image.
But now the 50-year-old action star of Transformers is set to turn his back on the blockbusters that made his name.
From now on Wahlberg, who had a big hit with a movie about a swearing teddy bear, only wants to make films with “real substance” that can “help people”.
That starts with a personal passion project about a deceased priest whose total change of direction reflects the one undergone by the actor.
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Father Stu tells the true story of a boxer called Stuart Long who had a problem with booze and a quick temper until a near death experience set him on a very different path.
Waking up from a coma after being run over by a car, Stuart decided to become a very unconventional priest.
His colourful language, not unlike that used by Wahlberg, marked him out from other men of the cloth.
And despite being diagnosed with an incurable muscle wasting condition, Father Stu continued to perform important religious rites even when he could barely move his hands.
So moved was Wahlberg by Long’s determination that he spent six years – and a lot of his own money – getting the movie, which is in cinemas, made.
The actor also gained an incredible 2st in six weeks in order to properly reflect how Stu went from a six-pack clad fighter to an overweight preacher.
In the final four weeks before filming, Wahlberg was on an 11,000 calories a day diet of burgers and ice-cream.
Wahlberg reveals: “As an actor, I’ve always looked for roles that have a personal connection for me.
“I transitioned from running the streets as a teenager and young adult to finding my faith.
“I now realise that my purpose is to help others growing up in situations like mine.”
He adds: “Eating every three hours took a toll on me. I don’t know if I’d be willing to do it again.”
Tough start
Like Wahlberg, Long’s start in life was far from easy.
His little brother Stephen died from an infection aged five, and he didn’t see much of his dad Bill, played by Mel Gibson in the film, who worked away from home in the building industry.
Neither of his parents were devout, and even being taught to box by a priest failed to get him interested in the church.
Father Bart Tolleson, who has written a biography about Long and was close friends with him, told The Celeb Report: “There is absolutely a similarity between the two men, that’s what connected them.
“Mark thought, ‘here is this guy that had a past I can connect with’.”
Boxing champ
After leaving Carroll College in Montana, Long was arrested for drunk driving, but tried to find discipline in the ring.
He won the 1985 Golden Gloves title in the northerly state as an amateur heavyweight, hoping to turn professional.
But the hard punching fighter had taken one too many heavy hits to his own jaw during his bouts.
A doctor warned Long that the damage was so severe that continuing to box could cost him his life.
In an attempt to keep his dreams alive, Long had reconstructive surgery in 1986, but it was not successful enough to return to the ring.
Undaunted by this knockback, he packed his bags and headed for Los Angeles, believing he could make it in the movie or TV industry – despite a lack of acting experience.
His Hollywood career didn’t get beyond making adverts and walk-on parts.
To make ends meet, Long worked as a bouncer at night clubs and comedy bars.
Brush with death
What changed his life was a brush with death.
Riding to work in 1998 on his motorbike, Long hit a car headfirst and was catapulted into the road.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, another motorist drove over his prostate body, leaving him with life-threatening internal injuries.
Long once said: “The witnesses told the sheriffs and reporters that I was rolling down the road and another car ran over the top of me.”
Doctors did not expect him to pull through, but Long believed a higher force decided it wasn’t his time to go.
Father Bart, 55, explains: “Stu had a couple of mystic moments, one of them was the motorcycle accident.
“He felt he had been spared and somehow there was a being or a force that had called him back.”
Divine intervention
That wasn’t quite enough to tempt into the church, though. What did was an attraction to a woman who thought Long should convert to Catholicism if they were going to get hitched.
To her surprise, her husband-to-be was so drawn into the faith that he started thinking about becoming a priest – who aren’t allowed to marry.
Father Bart says: “He was on the track to get married. He became Catholic so that he could get married in the Catholic church, because his girlfriend asked him to. She wanted that for the marriage preparation.
“The more he learned he got really serious and she was like, ‘I think you’re going in a little too deep’.”
In the movie we see the straight-talking Long shocking other men of the cloth by swearing.
Father Bart, who trained to be a priest with Stu from 2006, says: “Before his conversion he spoke like that, but after he became a priest he dialled that way down.”
Untreatable disease
A greater obstacle to working as a priest emerged while the two men were studying.
Father Bart recalls: “The first time we met he walked a little slowly but I didn’t think much of it because he had a hip replacement some eight months before.
“He was at the last step before priesthood in December 2006, we all observed he was having a hard time getting up stairs.”
As Long’s mobility declined doctors realised he had a rare and untreatable disease called inclusion body myositis.
There were questions about whether Long would be able to serve as a priest if he was unable to move his limbs.
But he wasn’t about to give in and became Father Stu, refusing to let his wasting muscles and wheelchair get in the way.
Father Bart says: “He learned how to celebrate mass. Others would move his hands so he could still perform his sacraments.
“He kept doing it. Until the last weeks of his life he was hearing confessions and performing mass.”
When the sickly priest was confined to a rehabilitation centre, people would queue up outside his room for confession.
Even when Father Bart was on his deathbed in 2014 at the age of 50, not able to lift his arms or legs, he continued to bless his congregation.
Father Bart reveals: “The last couple of weeks it was pretty much over, but the day before he died, in almost a comatose state, he would move his thumb to give people his blessing, which was a really beautiful thing.”
Word of Father Stu’s superhuman devotion spread throughout the Catholic community and a priest told the story to Wahlberg.
The more the actor learned about the boxer turned priest, the more determined he became to make a movie, even though the big studios wouldn’t back him financially.
Father Bart, who Wahlberg consulted in order to understand Long better, says: “Mark did say he was ready to wash his hands of it and he would pray and have a picture of Stu in front of him and it just kept coming back stronger and stronger that he had to make a picture about Stu.”
Weighty role
Wahlberg realised he would have to fund much of the production himself. He says: “I just kept meeting different obstacles and decided I was going to go on my own path to make the movie.
“Then my responsibility became to honour Stu’s legacy, and that’s a burden that I haven’t taken lightly.”
To properly portray the two points in Long’s life – the superfit boxer and the overweight priest – he put on 30lbs in less than two months.
Now the married father-of-four, who founded a charity to help inner city youth, hopes his film will inspire others.
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Wahlberg concludes: “I want to share Stu’s courage and conviction, to encourage people never to give up trying to be the best versions of themselves.”
Father Stu is in cinemas now.
