For his latest role in Father Stu, Mark Wahlberg had to put on a whopping 30 pounds in six weeks. In the film he embodies the title role of Father Stuart Long, who went from boxer to priest.
“I had six weeks to gain about 30 pounds. I started out with 7,000 calories for the first two weeks and then 11,000 calories for the last four weeks,” Wahlberg said. “None of it was fun except that the first meal was great because I hadn’t eaten anything before then. But after that, when you’re already full and need to eat again, and at my age, it’s just not healthy to put on that much weight during that time.”
After enjoying the first few meals to gain weight, the process quickly became boring and tiring. Especially because it was part of the routine to drink glasses with olive oil.
Hunger from workout routine
He also didn’t sit on the couch and eat pizza. “I tried to do it in a healthy way. There were a dozen eggs and a dozen pieces of bacon, two baked potatoes, a porterhouse steak, two bowls of white rice, and a jar of olive oil. The first two weeks were high in protein. The second two weeks there were a lot of carbohydrates. Starch and then sodium for the last two weeks just to get as bloated as possible. So not much fun.” He also stuck to his morning workout routine. This made him hungry enough to keep his daily workload. “I needed to work up an appetite, so I went in and tried to lift as heavy as possible just to get hungry,” Wahlberg said in an interview.
In the end, however, the hard work was worth it. Father Stuart Long’s inspirational story of self-destruction for salvation also reminded him of his own journey in life. Wahlberg grew up in poor conditions and as a teenager had several run-ins with the law. As a 16-year-old, he was even charged with attempted murder.
Father Stuart Long was a Catholic priest who died in 2014. As a young man, he aspired to be a boxer. After a serious car accident, he was baptized and spent the last 11 years of his life serving in the Church.
Wahlberg, who is a practicing Catholic himself, said of the priest, “We were both kind of searching for our calling, and I think we’re both kind of coming to a place where we want to do more good and serve God, and certainly appreciate all of that.” Blessings that have come my way,” Wahlberg said. “Now I must continue to reiterate his message and take on that responsibility after the film is over to continue to do more substantial work and continue to bring people together and spread a message of hope and faith.”
Father Stu hits theaters in the United States on April 13th. It is still unclear when the film will be released in Germany.