Having collaborated on I Heart Huckabees, Three Kings and The Fighter, actor Mark Wahlberg and director David O. Russell are set to team up for a fourth time, with Wahlberg revealing on Facebook that they are currently working on a script for a biopic about Father Stuart Long, a boxer who found God and became a priest.
“David O. Russell and I are working on developing a script about 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,” said Wahlberg. “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. I think it’s an amazing, inspirational story, so David and I are working on that right now.”
The actor and producer also went on to reveal that he’s in development on a comedy film with basketball star LeBron James, stating that: “LeBron James and I are possibly going to do a movie this summer. It’s about guys going to fantasy basketball camp, and me getting in a lot of trouble and having to go at it with LeBron.”
Variety reports that the LeBron James project is called Ballers (might have some issues with the Dwayne Johnson series there), and Doug Ellin (Entourage) is penning the script. The project has been in development for three years, and initially had Kevin Hart attached to co-star.
Wahlberg will next be seen in Deepwater Horizon, which opens next week (September 30th), and also has Patriots Day and Transformers: The Last Knight set to arrive in 2017.
Via SlashFilm
Originally published September 23, 2016. Updated October 24, 2022.
