Stuart Long was an English major in college, who then won the Montana heavyweight Golden Gloves title at age 22 before reconstructive jaw surgery forced him to end his dream of becoming a boxer. So Long moved to Los Angeles to become an actor: He had no experience, just charisma and determination. 

Long landed some roles in commercials but became disillusioned with the industry and rose to become manager of Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum. But his life veered off course again when he was nearly killed while riding his motorcycle home from work. This near-death experience changed his views of religion, and he became baptized as a Roman Catholic in order to marry the woman he loved.

But they never married. When Long was baptized, he felt called by God to the priesthood and remade his life, teaching at Catholic schools in Mission Hills and then New York before getting a Masters’s degree in philosophy. Along the way, Long found he had a disease similar to ALS, that robbed him of his body and would ultimately end his life. Still, Long never lost his desire to help others while he lived. 

If that sounds like a Hollywood movie, well, first, you should know it’s all true. Second, you should know that Hollywood, specifically Mark Wahlberg agrees. Wahlberg spent years trying to develop the film, finally bringing on Rosalind Ross to write and direct “Father Stu.” 

Ross is known in celebrity culture for being in a relationship with Mel Gibson, but she established her writing bona fides in the industry with “Barbarian” (which is being developed for production) and other scripts. This is her directing debut and it also features Gibson as Long’s father, whose angry relationship with Long shapes the film. 

Ross spoke by phone recently about the film, developing the film with Wahlberg and working with Gibson. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. Mark Wahlberg had been developing this project for years. How did you end up on it?

I had written two other scripts Mark was attached to star in, one of which was a blind submission and another we developed together for Paramount. So one day he pitched me this story. I’m not sure why then or why in general. 

Q. Did you read what he already had or start from scratch?

An earlier draft was sent to me. I skimmed it, or actually, I said I skimmed it. I don’t like to read what other people have written – I’d rather look at a blank canvas. Writing is a personal journey and I have to find the character’s voice in my head; when you read somebody else’s interpretation of the character it muddies the waters

Q. What appealed to you about the story?

It’s about a guy searching for purpose, searching for light in the darkness. That’s something I can relate to and I think a lot of people can. Telling a story about a person who does find what they’re looking for felt like a beautiful and important opportunity.

Q. Is this a movie about religious faith or about individual redemption?

I believe it’s the latter. Certainly, there’s a faith element to it, but it’s about somebody finding personal salvation as much as it is somebody finding salvation-salvation. I just wanted to show the profound journey this character underwent. The ending is bittersweet, but I think it’s incredibly uplifting because he achieves his ultimate victory in healing his own family. But it’s subtle. 

Q. How do you balance storytelling with representing real people?

I had access to Stuart Long’s father and his best friend at the seminary, but I made a lot of personal interpretations and took liberties – with these true stories it’s always a delicate balance. You also have to be entertaining so you have to heighten reality, and I think that’s OK.

But I took my tonal cue from the man himself – from the accounts I heard, he took his diagnosis in stride with grace and dignity. And he was able to laugh at himself. Part of what was so inspirational is that he had such a beautiful outlook on suffering and didn’t want people to feel sorry for him. He inspired so many other people to look at their lives and suffering in a totally different way and that was a real gift. So that’s from the DNA of the character.

Q. Were you thinking of Mel Gibson all along for the role of the father? Was he peering over your shoulder reading the script, saying, “I can do that”?

I don’t let him read anything until I’m done but I had him in mind. Mark and I had talked about it, but Mel had a lot going on at the time. Then I gave him the script to read on an airplane; I sat across the aisle watching him and when he was finished he was crying so I thought, “OK, I’ve got him.”

Q. Were you concerned that viewers, watching him screaming angrily on the highway, would be distracted by the real-life connections?

If they do, that’s their problem, not mine. 

Q. This is your first time directing and you had an Oscar-winning director at home and on the set with you. Did you discuss the process with him?

Mel has been a mentor and he was there if I need his advice but he let me have the space to figure it out on my own and make my own mistakes. I would be silly not to pick his brain but I have a very different style and identity than him as a filmmaker and it was important for me to go on this journey by myself as an artist.

Q. What did you learn about directing on that journey?

Sometimes the best thing to do is just get out of the way – that was true both for me in dealing with the actors and for the actors in dealing with how to play the character. Overthinking things is often a barrier to portraying someone in a naturalistic or convincing way. 

It was also important to build trust – Mark and I had built rapport prior to starting filming and were on the same page so there were few times when we really disagreed about the way he played a scene. 

Q. What did you learn about yourself?

As a writer, I’m so used to being in my own head and I’m very comfortable that way so the idea of having to be around people all the time and to lead them was daunting. But I learned I could do that. I learned that I can be an extrovert when I need to.

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