Mark Wahlberg and David O. Russell Planning Fourth Collaboration
Mark Wahlberg has two high-profile films coming out this year, both dramatizing real-life tragedies and both directed by Peter Berg — this month’s Deepwater Horizon, and December’s Patriots Day. If that suggests Wahlberg and Berg are becoming a permanent on-screen team (they also worked together on 2013’s Lone Survivor), rest assured the actor isn’t confining himself to just one long-running auteur-actor collaboration, as yesterday he revealed in a Facebook Live chat (watch it above) that he’s also working on reteaming with another of his frequent directors.
Streaming video from his car driving through Times Square, Wahlberg discussed his plans to again partner with David O. Russell, with whom he’s made three films: 1999’s Three Kings, 2004’s I Heart Huckabees, and 2010’s The Fighter. For their potential fourth collaboration, Wahlberg revealed he and Russell would like to tell the true-life story of Father Stuart Long, a Montana priest who, before turning to religion, was a star athlete.
Related: Toronto Film Review: Mark Wahlberg in ‘Deepwater Horizon’
“David O. Russell and I right now are working on developing a script on 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. 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.”
There’s no word yet on when this project might surface, but Wahlberg’s got a busy upcoming slate — during his Facebook Live chat, he says that, aside from doing Deepwater Horizon press, he’s finishing up shooting Transformers: The Last Knight in London, and then may shoot a comedy called “Ballers” with NBA superstar LeBron James next summer.
Related: Peter Berg Defends Portrayal of Oil Workers as Heroes in ‘Deepwater Horizon’
Deepwater Horizon opens on Sept. 30, Patriots Day debuts Dec. 21, and Transformers: The Last Knight hits theaters on June 23, 2017.
Mark Wahlberg talks potential movie with LeBron James on ‘The Tonight Show’:
