A new film tells the true story of an agnostic boxer who moved to Hollywood and became a priest. Joanna Moorhead talks to director Rosalind Ross about hope, love and surrender

It’s the story of a man who goes through unbearable suffering, and who finds that hope, love and surrender transcend all. It’s a modern-day parable about how even our lowest ebb doesn’t have to be the end, although the resolution may be very different from what we intended. It’s the tale of a real-life Catholic priest, Fr Stuart Long, who went through all this and more. So yes, agrees Rosalind Ross, director of Father Stu, this is an Easter offering to the world, believers and non-believers alike. “The timing has worked out well,” she tells me.

It’s early in Los Angeles, from where Ross is meeting me via Zoom, but she’s all peachy-satin glamour, with enviably long, beautifully groomed hair. She’s 31 years old, a former equestrian champion-turned-movie writer, and Father Stu – in US cinemas this weekend, and released in the UK on 13 May – is her directorial debut.