See what happens when your little baseball movie opens to great word of mouth and a $20M weekend? All those old projects gathering dust on the shelf are suddenly back in play. Oscar nominated director Bennett Miller(Moneyball) has been trying to get Foxcatcher, his film about the life of convicted murderer John du Pont, off the ground since at least 2007. But things never seemed to round into shape, and now with the ball rolling he's rounded up one hell of a star.
Variety reports that Steve Carell, fresh off his non-victory at the Emmys for his final season of The Office, will play du Pont in one of the weirdest crime stories in recent memory. The likely heir to the prominent du Pont family fortune, John opened up a training facility for wrestlers on his Pennsylvania estate, and became friends with a number of athletes. One in particular, Olympian freestyle wrestler Dave Schultz, was especially close with him. In 1996, du Pont shot and murdered Schultz in his driveway, later claiming Schulz was part of some grand conspiracy to kill him. Ok. Du Pont is known for extensive hobbies, which included studying shells, philanthropy, and bird watching. Du Pont helped discover over two dozen rare species of birds.
The script is by Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye, both of whom co-wrote Capote back in 2005, and I'm sure they're hoping for similar results. For Carell, this could be his first and best shot at some awards recognition for his dramatic range, becoming more than just a comedic actor. He's shown flashes of it before, most recently in Crazy Stupid Love.
I'm just curious to see what the tone of this film is going to be. How deep is it going to explore du Pont's insanity? And who will play Dave Schultz? With production set to kick off in March, we'll probably find out more soon.
