Mark Wahlberg's biopic of Father Stuart Long, a self-destructive boxer turned failed actor, bouncer who became a priest and died of a terminal illness, has finally gotten a release date for Good Friday, April 15.
The film, 'Father Stu' tells the real life story of Long, a troublemaking Montana man with a promising boxing career that was cut short and who found his faith after surviving a horrific motorcycle accident on his way to work at a California museum.
'Father Stu's journey from troublemaker to clergyman was inspiring to many, including me,' Wahlberg, who worked six years to get the movie made, told Variety.
'I hope that with this film, we keep his spirit alive and continue his good works.'
The film is also set to star Mel Gibson, Jacki Weaver and Teresa Ruiz, and was written and directed by Gibson's girlfriend, Rosalind Ross.
Mark Wahlberg, left, is set to star Father Stuart Long in a biopic of the boxer turned priest. Wahlberg had been working for six years to get the movie made
Father Long, left, is revered for his coming to his faith and maintaining his believes while battling a terminal illness that took his life at age 50
Wahlberg gained 30 pounds to portray Long during the ups and downs of the priest's life
Although he attended Carrol College, a private catholic university, Long admitted he was not a religious man and only cared about playing on the school's football team, according to a 2011 interview with the Diocese of Helena.
'I wasn't catholic. I always felt like kind of an outsider,' Long said as he reflected on the awkwardness he felt whenever the team had to attend mass together.
Long admitted he liked to question his teacher at the college and stir up trouble, but everything changed when one professor, Father Jeremiah Sullivan, found a way to direct Long's apparent yearning for conflict.
Sullivan brought Long to the school's gym and introduced him to boxing, which lit a spark in Long, who found it even more fulfilling than
