“Foxcatcher” Directed by Bennett Miller

• Tweet
• Pin It

Director:

Bennett Miller (“Capote”, “Moneyball”)

Main Cast:

Steve Carell (“The 40 Year-Old Virgin”, “Little Miss Sunshine”, “Hope Springs”)

Channing Tatum (“This is the End”)

Mark Ruffalo (“You Can Count on Me”, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Zodiac”)

Running Time:  129 Minutes

_____________________________________

Having wrestled a year in school and being a follower of the sport (including subscribing to Amateur Wrestling News), this is a story I was interested in seeing fleshed out and was surprised it made it to the big screen.  I remember reading about the Foxcatcher wrestling team before the murder and wondering what chemical company heir John du Pont’s connection to the sport was, since he didn’t wrestle in school.

Set in 1987, “Foxcatcher” begins by showing 1984 Olympic and 1985 World freestyle wrestling champion Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) in front of an apathetic and sparsely attended elementary school audience as a motivational speaker, which he’s not very good at.  Despite being the best at the world in his event, he is reduced to speaking engagements at $20 a pop and eating fast food hamburgers in his car and eating ramen in his stark, bleak apartment.  The scenes are powerful and reminiscent of the scene in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” where retired pro wrestlers set up tables to sell highlight videotapes of themselves and there’s no one there to buy the tapes.  That wrestling (although different types) is the theme of both movies is purely coincidental.

Out of the blue, Mark gets a call from someone representing John E. DuPont (an unrecognizable Steve Carell, right) and Foxcatcher Farms, neither of which register with Mark.  DuPont flies Mark to meet with him and, introducing himself as a wrestling coach, offers to help Mark by subsidizing his wrestling career (room and board on the estate and paying him a salary), with the goals of defending his World title in 1987 in Clermont-Ferrand, France and his Olympic title at the Seoul Games in 1988.

Mark explains and extends DuPont’s offer ─ which also includes the Schultz brothers being able to hand-pick the Foxcatcher wrestling team ─ to his older brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo, who reportedly gained 30 pounds for the role, left with Tatum).  Since the Schultz brothers lost their father when Mark was two, Dave is also father figure and role model to Mark.  A World and Olympic champion like Mark, Dave’s understandably skeptical response (and the line of the movie) is “What’s he (DuPont) get outta all this?” and declines the offer, citing his sponsor and his wife and kids as reasons.

DuPont’s influence on Mark is an unhealthy one.  DuPont, who also grew up without a father and lives in the shadow of his domineering and disapproving mother (Vanessa Redgrave), is envious of the brothers’ relationship.  DuPont convinces Mark he can achieve more without his older brother, and the easily-influenced Mark acquires DuPont’s penchant for alcohol and cocaine, clearly not good for a world-class athlete in training.  DuPont eventually contradicts himself by bringing Dave, who DuPont believes will be a better team leader than Mark, into the Foxcatcher fold and moving Dave and his wife (Sienna Miller) and kids onto the estate.  DuPont’s strangeness and the unhealthiness of his relationship with the brothers ─ clouded by jealousy, insecurities, and mistrust ─ continues until the event that brings the scenario to the public’s attention.  There are a couple of blink-or-you’ll-miss-them scenes that imply a sexual relationship exists between Mark and DuPont.  Watching DuPont tackle and practice with the much-younger Foxcatcher wrestlers is just unsettling.  In addition, the minimalist way “Foxcatcher” is shot gives it a mood that something is impending and the mood pervades throughout the film.  We really feel everything we’re watching is leading to a significant event.

The focus of the film’s acting is entirely on the three leads, which has been rewarded with Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations for Carell and Ruffalo, respectively.  I had mentioned in my review of “Hope Springs” that it was good to see Carell in a serious role and his performance here puts an exclamation point on that thought.  What Carell’s DuPont doesn’t say is as effective at what he says, and his extended stares and pauses would make anyone uneasy, as would the constant upward tilt of his head.  We’re not sure what exactly is going on in DuPont’s head nor do we ever want to know.  Ruffalo plays Dave Schultz exactly the opposite; always grounded, uncomplicated, straight-forward, and without ambiguity.  Despite the Oscar nominations, the most impressive performance is given by Tatum, who also gets the most screen time and really is the film’s lead character.  I like Ruffalo and he’s good in the movie but I’m mystified as to why he got a Supporting nomination over Tatum.  I guess the film promoted both Carell and Tatum as leads.  As Mark Schultz, Tatum is convincing in conveying his character’s physical strength and competitive drive and, more importantly, his insecurities, complexes, and emotional frailty.  That a World and Olympic wrestling champion would be so easily influenced and so lacking in emotional foundation seems contradictory.

All three leads underwent physical transformations to varying degrees¹, including their posture, the way they carry themselves and the way they walk, which really help define their characters.  The same goes for the way they speak and the training they put in to make their wrestling look convincing.  Not only is Carell’s face completely transformed ─ his nose is so prominently displayed it deserves its own credit² ─ he must have let himself get really soft, which we see when he’s shown wearing a singlet when competing in an age-division wrestling tournament.  The makeup to alter Tatum’s appearance (above right)  is much more subtle than it is on Carell but it’s no less effective.

I couldn’t find a place to mention duPont’s interest in guns.

The other Foxcatcher wrestlers appear to be actual wrestlers and are only given background dialogue.  Redgrave, wheelchair-bound and with very little screen time, contributes just enough to establish her character’s relationship with her son.  Anthony Michael Hall likewise has just a few quick scenes.  Sienna Miller gets much less to do here than she does in “American Sniper”, again playing the wife of a real-life American hero who gets murdered under odd circumstances by a mentally unstable person.

The writing by Dan Futterman (“Capote”) and E. Max Frye has deservedly been rewarded with an Original Screenplay Oscar nomination, meaning it is not based on a book and was instead the result of research and interviews.  Mark Schultz published his book “Foxcatcher:  The True Story of My Brother’s Murder, John du Pont’s Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold”, in conjunction with the release of the film.

Whether you’re a fan of freestyle/Olympic wrestling or not, the story line of “Foxcatcher” is compelling and the movie is well directed (an Oscar nomination for Bennett Miller) and well written and makes for a fascinating character study.  You couldn’t make up someone like John Du Pont (right, in a haunting photo with Dave Schultz).

DPW

February 13, 2015

1 Actors physically transforming themselves for their roles is a big theme this year.  Along with this film’s three leads, other actors who altered their physical appearance for their roles in 2014 releases include Eddie Redmayne (weight loss and body contorting for “The Theory of Everything”), Jake Gyllenhaal (weight loss for “Nightcrawler”), and Bradley Cooper (weight gain for “American Sniper”).

² Actually, Carell’s nose does get its own credit in the form of the Oscar-nominated makeup team of Bill Corso (an Oscar winner for “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”, primarily on Jim Carrey, left) and Dennis Liddiard.  It’s the category I think is the film’s strongest shot at an Oscar.

I referenced the History vs. Hollywood website in my review for “American Sniper.”  Here’s the link to the comparisons for “Foxcatcher.”   One vital difference pointed out is that DuPont had much more of a relationship with Dave Schultz than with Mark.

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/foxcatcher/?cid=foxcatcher

I’m not sure it’s an apt comparison, but I always considered the DuPont-Schultz murder to be similar to Mark David Chapman killing John Lennon and Tejano music star Selena’s murder at the hands of her fan club’s president/agent.  All three murderers idolized their victims, although Chapman had no relationship with Lennon.

Related Posts

• “Kingsman: The Secret Service” Directed by Matthew Vaughn
  “Kingsman: The Secret Service” Directed by Matthew Vaughn
• “Begin Again” Written and Directed by John Carney
  “Begin Again” Written and Directed by John Carney
• My Oscar Choices
  My Oscar Choices

Leave a Reply Cancel reply