Foxcatcher - A Transformative and Career Defining Performance By Steve Carell

Foxcatcher 

By: Noah Newcomb

        I am always open to seeing new things. Being a young person I have missed out on some big films in my lifetime. Now Foxcatcher isn't necessarily a big film but it was up for Oscar nominations and was recommended to me by a podcast I'm a fan of: Out Now With Aaron and Abe. Watching the trailer, I was completely enthralled. I'm a huge fan of Steve Carell and seeing him completely transform into this character was reason enough for me to want to see it. I also like Mark Ruffalo. Like Mark Schultz, I had never heard of John du Pont or Foxcatcher. To get the best possible experience, I avoided spoilers for the film even though it was based on a true story. So I pretty much went in knowing nothing. If no one has heard of the story of Foxcatcher I would recommend you go into the movie knowing nothing as well, just see the trailer. I really enjoyed the film. This is a highly chilling and disturbing movie in many ways. The story tells a slightly different take then what is normally talked about in the story of Foxcatcher with Mark Schultz and du Pont's relationship. While not everything is historically accurate in the movie and I'll release a separate post on those points, this is really a chilling tale of paranoia and betrayal. The main three performances are fantastic.  This is my second favorite performance by Steve Carell, Michael Scott being my personal favorite. Carell transforms into this character of John du Pont. The makeup design on him is unlike anything I have ever seen. You can look at actual photos of du Pont and Carell looks exactly like him in this movie. My main reference point for this performance similar to this is Christian Bale in Vice. I like Foxcatcher more than Vice but Bale's performance is the highlight of that film. With Bale's method acting and prosthetics, he looks exactly like Dick Cheney. Cheney and du Pont are two completely different people however, thus giving two different performances from the actors. This is a true milestone for Carell in his career. There are many dramatic performances by normally comedic actors, Carell's performance is a standout amongst performance's like that. Carell has me biting my nails every time he's on-screen, not knowing what he's going to do next. I would recommend this movie just so you can see his performance. This is also my first time seeing a real Channing Tatum performance. I had seen him from The Lego Movie Part 1 and 2 and The Book of Life, but those aren't real performances in my mind. Tatum really gives a performance that will most likely be the best of his career. Then Mark Ruffalo might be giving the best performance I've seen him give. I like him the most as Bruce Banner. Ruffalo always gives a skillful and like Steve Carell, embodies his character performance. He too looks like his character Dave Schultz. Props to Rufalo for selling me on him being a wrestler. I don't normally think of Mark Ruffalo as a fighter but he sells me on him being this world-class wrestler. His best scene is when he is doing an interview for du Pont's documentary and struggling to say nice things about him. By far Ruffalo's best scene of the film. Tatum and Ruffalo both do a great job of selling me on their relationship. It is one of my favorite things about the film. Seeing Ruffalo encourage and push Tatum while he tries to lose 12 pounds in 90 minutes. One of my favorite things about the movie is that scene. Du Pont stepping in and Dave pushing him away was a nice part as well. The scene before that with Mark freaking out was Tatum's best scene in the whole film. I do think one of the failings of this film, however, is exploring du Pont and Dave's relationship. I think the second half is the best half of the film. That is where you see Dave and du Pont's relationship the most and see more of du Pont's insanity and paranoia. I still would have liked some more of that relationship. My favorite thing about the movie is John du Pont. Not just because of Steve Carell's fantastic performance but because of who this guy really is. To me, du Pont is insane. I'll really get more into him as a character on the spoiler side but this is a really disturbing person and he's an excellent person to center a movie off of. Not because he's a good guy, but because of the psychology of the character, exploring that, and seeing it play out. Before I go to the spoiler side I want to mention the Netflix documentary: Team Foxcatcher. I was already aware of this documentary but I wanted to experience the movie unknowing of what was going to happen. After I watched the movie I watched this documentary the next day, and it is pretty good. I mentioned how I would have liked seeing more of Dave and du Pont's relationship and this documentary fills that whole. Watching actual footage of people who knew du Pont and talking about him was highly intriguing. Seeing actual footage of the man himself was interesting as well. Miller took quotes that du Pont actually said and applied it to the film. There are lines du Pont said that stuck with me, not because of inspiration, but if you watch the film, how those lines apply to the grand scheme of the film and of the character of du Pont. The two quotes were, "It is my wish for you to be champions in sport and winners in life" and "A coach is a father, a coach is a mentor, a coach as great influence on an athlete's life." It's sickening seeing du Pont be this fake coach who really does nothing. Him trying to create this persona of an inspirational coach is revolting to me being a student of an MMA coach and taking MMA classes. The movie doesn't go into du Pont's relationship with the other wrestlers. I would have liked to see what other people thought of him besides Dave and Mark Schultz. You definitely see more of that in Team Foxcatcher. You hear more about du Pont's strange and paranoid behavior which is always interesting to hear about.

SPOILERS!!!

        The people who already know the story of John du Pont will know what this movie has been building up to and that's the murder of Dave Schultz. That is definitely the main spoiler of the film for those who aren't aware of the story of Foxcatcher. Miller does a good job of shooting the scene. Basically, Du Pont goes to Dave's house and shoots him three times, then drives off. You can feel the tension building up between du Pont and Dave with du Pont's paranoia. The moment feels earned and captures Dave's death well. In real life, du Pont was surrounded by the police in his house for two days and I would have liked to see that play out but the ending is still good. Seeing some of the closing moments between du Pont and Mark was great as well. Du Pont basically throwing Mark away and turning to Dave is tough to watch. Watching Mark having to cope with this and beating himself up and going to depression is depressing.

Final Thoughts

        I brought up Vice earlier and I think that Foxcatcher is certainly the better film. This is a far more entertaining and enthralling movie. Learning about du Pont really made me ponder and think about his psychosis. This movie made me think. It is always a good sign for a movie when a movie makes you think. This is a movie that was on my mind for the next three days. It isn't a perfect film but it is great at what it does. I'll definitely give a strong recommendation. Fantastic performances, costume design, directing, and the score as well which I didn't mention. This is composed by different composers and has a somewhat scary type of theme. There's this soft piano piece in the score and that's even disturbing. You have to watch the movie to really appreciate it and enjoy listening to it afterward. Carell really is the highlight of the movie. Strong Recommend definitely one of the better history movies.

Foxcatcher Official Trailer