Foxcatcher (2014)

Disturbing yet mesmerizing. Jack, Mary Ellen, and I thought this story of John du Pont training Olympic Gold wrestler Mark Schultz in the 1980s was fabulous. Steve Carell is scary as the chemical company heir who thinks he can buy everything and Channing Tatum awesome as the vulnerable Mark. I mentioned Carell in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and linked to his earlier work in The Way Way Back; Tatum was mentioned in Don Jon and Magic Mike and I listed previous credits in Haywire.  Both are much more than their previous reputations of funny man and beefcake, respectively. Mark Ruffalo (last blogged in Begin Again) brings his dependable talent to the role of Mark's devoted brother, coach, and fellow gold medalist Dave.

Director Bennett Miller began this project several years ago, but put it aside when he took over for Steven Soderbergh in Moneyball. That's but one of the fascinating trivia facts on imdb. The script was co-written by E. Max Frye (Something Wild (1986), more) and Dan Futterman (you might know him as an actor--the son in the Birdcage (1996), Danny Pearl in A Mighty Heart (2007), or his 76 episodes as Amy's brother in Judging Amy--but he was Oscar-nominated for adapting the book on which Capote (2005) was based, his first feature writing gig, and this is his second). Here's a discussion of the real story vs. the movie, but beware, it's full of spoilers.

The music by Rob Simonsen (The Spectacular Now) is pretty great, too, and can be previewed on iTunes. And the eerie cinematography is by Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty). The mansion exteriors were shot in Leesburg, Virginia, since the du Pont homestead (called Foxcatcher) has since been demolished, and interiors were mostly shot in the Pittsburgh area, where the family lived.

This has begun racking up awards and nominations. See it locally before the Oscars!