Saying too
much about Bennett Millers latest movie would, I'm sure, spoil it for many of you,
as the movies climax was quite a shock for someone like me who knew nothing
about the story before seeing the film! Based on a true story Foxcatcher
(2013) was written for the screen by E Max Frye and Dan Futterman who also
wrote the screenplay for Capote (2014), which Miller directed. The
movie involves two different subcultures, wealth, money and self conceived
power and the sport of wrestling, a rather under appreciated sport in modern
day America.
When Bennett
was originally approached with the story he knew immediately that this was a
movie he had to make but it took some time to come to fruition. No one from the
wrestling community wanted anything to do with the movie until John Giura
joined the team as a trainer/technical adviser, which brought many other
members of the wrestling community into the production. Giura was eventually
given a producing credit. Set on Du
Pont's 880-acre estate in New Town Pennsylvania, and with the original mansion
Liseter Hall having been demolished, the filmmakers used Morven Park in Leesburg,
Virginia for the exterior filming and Wilpen Hall an 1899 mansion in the suburb
of Sewickley Heights Pennsylvania for the interior filming.
The story
concerns the relationship between two gold winning Olympic wrestling brothers
Mark and Dave Schultz, played by Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo, and the American
munitions multi
millionaire, philanthropist and wrestling enthusiast John Eleuthere du Pont, a very different role for
comedian Steve Carell who is almost unrecognisable with his ‘Roman’ nose. Du Pont
sets himself up as the main benefactor of the US Wrestling team to take part in
the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games taking on Mark and then Dave to train Team
Foxcatcher. It's a self indulgent project for one of the riches men in America
at that time and demonstrates what he imagines his vast wealth can allow him to
get away with.
Offering a
great story, although slow paced and intense, it allows the three main leads to
demonstrate career best performances with both Ruffalo and the unnerving Carell
both receiving acting nominations at the 87th Academy Awards while Bennett was
nominated for Best Director, an award he won at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Also in the movie are Vanessa Redgrave as du Pont's domineering horse loving
mother and Sienna Miller as Dave Schultz wife Nancy. Don’t worry if you’re not a fan of wrestling,
as I’m not, it will not spoil your enjoyment of this finely made, if somewhat
gloomy, movie. Just treat at it as a metaphor for life - how the rich exploit people
who are not fortunate enough have the same privileges they have.
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