Mark Wahlberg is starring in the film “Joe Bell” which is based on a true story.

The film centers around the story of Joe and Jadin Bell. In 2013, 15-year-old Jadin Bell took his after enduring bullying for his sexuality, and after his death, his father Joe decided to raise awareness of teen bullying.

Joe Bell started the Faces for Change foundation and had the idea of walking 5,000 miles across the country to campaign against bullying. Sadly, six months into “Joe’s Walk for Change” across the country, Bell was struck by a semi-truck in Colorad0.

Mark Wahlberg will take on the role of Joe and said, “We made the movie to continue Joe’s journey and continue to open hearts and minds of people to be accepting and tolerant of people, no matter where they come from, what their sexual orientation is, race, religion, any of those things you want.”

In order to truly immerse himself in the role, Wahlberg met with the Bell family to find out more about Joe and the kind of man he was.

“He was a tough individual who had a very difficult and abusive childhood, and he was doing the best that he could with what little skills and experience he had as a dad. And dealing with a situation like this was just something that he was not prepared for,” said Wahlberg.

“I really felt that as a parent, more than as an actor or producer – having four children and I have now a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl and I just felt like diving right in wanting to really understand who Joe was, wanting to make sure that the family knew what our intentions were because it’s obviously an overwhelming amount of responsibility when telling a story like this,” said Wahlberg, who was able to connect to his character because he is also a father.

The actor hopes that the film will “maybe bring some healing and more importantly, prevent other families from having to go through the same thing.”

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