He's played Robert Benchley and Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. He's been cast as an introspective dentist, an atomic scientist, a cop and Hamlet. Now, in the film Saint Ralph, Campbell Scott takes a turn as a priest.

But he's not the title character. He's the title character's coach. Saint Ralph is an underdog's story, set in 1950s Canada, of a young Catholic boy whose dream is to win the Boston Marathon... a miraculous goal he hopes will bring his mother out of a coma. Ralph is portrayed by a big-screen newcomer, Adam Butcher.

Scott -- son of acting legends George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst -- is cast as Father Hibbert, a somewhat iconoclastic man of the cloth, who helps the youngster develop a previously untapped talent for long-distance running. Scott tells Liane Hansen about the movie and about the challenges of the role.

Director Michael McGowan's film premiered at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival, and is now being released in the United States. McGowan comes to the role with some expertise. He's the winner of the 1984 Detroit Marathon.

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