U.S. Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz join "Team Foxcatcher", led by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont, as they train for the 1988 Olympic Games ... Read allU.S. Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz join "Team Foxcatcher", led by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont, as they train for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, but John's self-destructive behavior threatens to consume them all.U.S. Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz join "Team Foxcatcher", led by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont, as they train for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, but John's self-destructive behavior threatens to consume them all.
- Nominated for 5 Oscars
- 12 wins & 81 nominations total
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSteve Carell claimed that, according to director Bennett Miller's wishes, there was no joking between takes, and he did not socialize with the co-stars after work.
- GoofsWhen the wrestling team is watching the Ultimate Fighting Championship in his house, it is 1987. The Ultimate Fighting Championship didn't air until 1993, and that specific fight didn't air until 1996.
- Quotes
John du Pont: [from trailer] Coach is the father. Coach is a mentor. Coach has great power on athlete's life.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Film '72: Episode dated 5 November 2014 (2014)
- SoundtracksSt. Stephen
Written by Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh (as Philip Lesh) & Robert Hunter
Performed by Grateful Dead
Courtesy of Grateful Dead Productions
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing
Hearing reactions from people who saw "Foxcatcher" made me instill a mindset in myself to defend against the "slow pacing". (Feeling the discomfort from a long running-time is a movie pet peeve of mine.) However, my experience of "Foxcatcher" was largely different from most everyone else who has discussed the film. I did not want to take my eyes off the screen. The direction from Bennett Miller felt in tune with the story and the characters in a mellow way. He built scenes at a gradual pace, but each scene has a path and reach a distinctive point of impact. Because "Foxcatcher" is so muted, it haunts with the uneasy themes being explored in the screenplay and a deliberate reveal of information in the directing.
The ominous representations of the real-life people by the actors contribute substantially to the outcome of "Foxcatcher". Steve Carell amazed me in his portrayal of John du Pont. It's not the most expressive work of an actor this year, but it's certainly one of the most potent. The comedic actor is transformative and in more ways than the physical ones prompted by the make-up prosthetics, which visibly add to the creation of the mysterious figure. Carell's eyes cut deep into the viewer and sting like a sharp razor blade impaling the warmth of your flesh.
"Foxcatcher" begins as Mark Shultz's story and continues into the film's second act led by Channing Tatum's irate temperament. But the closer the end of the film nears, du Pont begins to consume the story. Carell's performance feels extraordinarily subtle as your start the film, but as "Foxcatcher" endangers the viewer deeper into du Pont's mind, the severity of Carell's performance begins permeate throughout the picture. There's an eerie presence he creates, a torment that does not internally leave you after watching it. (Not to suggest that du Pont is evil, as understood in Miller's direction, there's an nuance of tragedy that looms over the man that makes his story such a grave one to experience.)
Mark Ruffalo's Dave Schultz becomes a driving figure in the last act, along with Carell, as Tatum's importance begins to lessen. The simple, small-town guy with a beacon of knowledge realized by Ruffalo is impressive. Tatum also gives his most accomplished performance to date.
Bennett Miller steps back tonally to his work in somber "Capote" after making the lighter (and forgettable) "Moneyball" in 2011. "Foxcatcher" is in the same quality league as "Capote", but in film he has a peculiar manner of creating the action of the plot. Some may say "Foxatcher" contains too few and far between events in the narrative, but I think Miller creates a drama palpable in the air of every scene, and we, the audience, are parked in a burning tension for two hours.
"Foxcatcher" is a superb film that, as it sits in your mind, grows from the seeds Miller plants in your head as you watch his detailed recounting of events on the du Pont estate. It will disturb you with its bleak vegetation and seduce your flames of darkness.
Grade: A-
* * * 1/2 / * * * *
- RyanCShowers
- Dec 30, 2014
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- Also known as
- Мисливець на лисиць
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Box office
- Budget
- $24,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $12,096,300
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $270,877
- Nov 16, 2014
- Gross worldwide
- $19,206,513
- Runtime2 hours 14 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1