Actor Mark Ruffalo Blends Film and Faith-Fueled Activism in Dark Waters

(RNS) — Actor Mark Ruffalo said he’s had a hard time melding his activism with storytelling.

Then Ruffalo encountered the story of the people of Parkersburg, West Virginia, who were exposed for decades to “forever chemicals” produced by DuPont, one of the world’s largest corporations.

And he was moved by attorney Robert Bilott’s 15-year battle to bring DuPont to justice, putting his family, his career and his health at risk for others.

“In a moment in time where the stories that we are being told are so cynical and the stories we hear all the time are like ‘people are just horrible people’ and ‘just be as selfish as possible’ and ‘no one’s doing anything for the greater good, really; it’s all personal gain,’ I believe in a different reality than that,” Ruffalo said.

“I believe our heroes, real heroes in the world, are the ones who are like Rob Bilott. And so I just thought it was a story that we needed to see and hear at this particular moment in time, and it really suited where I was in my career to be able to bring something like this to life.”

That’s the real-life story behind the film “Dark Waters,” which opened in wide release over the weekend.

Ruffalo produced the film and stars as Bilott. The story follows the attorney from defending chemical companies to taking them on after he is approached in the late 1990s by a farmer from his hometown who…