Bennett Miller – We Are Movie Geeks

FOXCATCHER – The Review

High hopes were had but the award for biggest disappointment of 2014 goes to….FOXCATCHER. I like the trio of actors it stars, it’s based on a true crime that I once read a book about (Blood Money : The Du Pont Heir and the Murder of an Olympic Athlete by Carlton Smith – not the basis for the new film’s script) and it won Best Director at Cannes for Bennett Miller (CAPOTE and MONEYBALL), but I found FOXCATCHER a meandering bore lacking any tension. What should have been a compelling tale of money and madness is instead one long, suffocating 135 minutes.

FOXCATCHER is mostly told through the eyes of loner Mark Schulz (Channing Tatum), an Olympic wrestler who has lived in the shadow of his older brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo), an even more successful wrestler with a gorgeous wife (Sienna Miller) and kids. When we meet the Schulz boys in 1986, they’re training potential young wrestlers in Wisconsin. Mark is confronted by the employees of billionaire John Eleuthère du Pont (Steve Carell), who has somehow decided that the most patriotic way to leave his mark on the world is to open a deluxe clinic on the grounds of his family’s estate in rural Pennsylvania that he christens ‘Foxcatcher National Training Center’. There he can personally oversee, with Mark as a coach, the training of a new U.S. wrestling team to compete in the 1988 Olympics. He claims his motivation is to prove something about American exceptionalism, but it’s soon obvious he simply wants to escape the influence of his disapproving mother (Vanessa Redgrave). John du Pont would indeed leave his mark but in a way never anticipated by his family. After winning Mark over, he succeeds in bringing Dave and his family to the compound as well. Du Pont not only enjoys wrestling, he likes birds, stamps (a proud philatelist), high-powered weapons and drugs, a combination of interests that eventually spells doom for one of the Schulz brothers.

There may be a decent 95-minute movie buried in the bloated FOXCATCHER but Miller lets scene after scene ramble on and on, an instance of a filmmaker overvaluing his material beyond all good sense. If you know where it’s all leading, it’s frustrating waiting for the story to develop. There is no momentum and the many training scenes at Foxcatcher are redundant. Tatum and Carell speak in hushed tones that underscore the film’s sluggish pace. What drives the eccentric du Pont is a mystery. He may simply enjoy watching sweaty young men flop around on the mat, but any gay angle is dialed way down here as are the depictions of du Pont’s drug use. A character left out of this drama (but discussed in the book I read) is du Pont’s dealer who kept supplying him with increasingly powerful and expensive product that likely affected his judgment. The movie offers as explanation Du Pont’s mother disapproving of wrestling and he of her horses, but every single encounter with du Pont is ominous, odd, or off-putting. This all may be true but it just comes across as creepy.

Steve Carell has Oscar buzz for his work in FOXCATCHER, but to me he’s more a sickly weirdo you’re forced to spend time with than a great movie character. Carrel whispers a slow monotone, and recites goofy lines I can picture Michael Scott saying like “Most of my friends call me Eagle or Golden Eagle” and “Horses are stupid!” I like the way his head is always bent back so he can gaze down his prosthetic beak on those bigger than he, sort of like Carell’s Gru character from DEPICABLE ME but without the charm (like du Pont, I can see Gru complaining about the tank he just bought!) While this may be a different Steve Carell than we’re used to, it’s hardly one of the top performances of the year. I think the best acting is from Channing Tatum who plays Mark as a slow-witted neanderthal easily seduced by attention and cocaine. It’s a tricky, physical role (what other A-lister could do a standing back flip?) with Mark going through the most changes and I liked the combative way the brothers bonded in the beginning by grappling each other until Dave’s nose bleeds. Like Carell, Mark Ruffalo has scored an Golden Globe nod – his Dave is the most engaging character onscreen.

FOXCATCHER isn’t a fiasco, but it’s definitely a big letdown and my low rating is a reflection of expectation. Bennett Miller is capable of much better than this so let’s hope he gets back on track with his next film. FOXCATCHER has little to say and takes far too long to say it.

1 of 5 Stars

Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo Star In New FOXCATCHER Trailer And Photos

Sony Pictures Classics has sent us the new theatrical trailer and photos from director Bennett Miller’s film FOXCATCHER, starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, Sienna Miller and Anthony Michael Hall.

Based on true events, FOXCATCHER tells the dark and fascinating story of the unlikely and ultimately tragic relationship between eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont and two champion wrestlers, Mark and Dave Schultz.

FOXCATCHER is a rich and moving story of brotherly love, misguided loyalty and the corruption and emotional bankruptcy that can accompany great power and wealth. As with Academy Award nominee Bennett Miller’s previous feature films, CAPOTE and MONEYBALL, he explores large themes in society through his complex character portraits of real people.

Steve Carell’s fans will be surprised to see him in a role as dark and challenging as John du Pont, a man of immense wealth and power whose downward spiral culminates in murder and imprisonment.

Miller, winner for Best Director at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, knew from the outset that the actor could play awkward, eccentric, and even violent. He also knew that it was useless to try and cast a conventional or expected actor in the role of a character whose nature was so unexpected.

“Nobody believed what du Pont was capable of,” says Miller. “But when I met Carell I realized how many layers there are to him – he is one of those actors with a public self and a private self. And you never see the private self, ever. I thought those protected, guarded areas might help him to relate to this character in some way.”

To prepare for the exacting role, Carell studied du Pont’s physical demeanor and speaking manner by watching hours of the Team Foxcatcher video footage Miller provided his cast. “I listened to his cadence — not only how he spoke physically, but the actual words he chose to express himself,” says Carell. “Bennett would sometimes have us improvise, so I allowed room for that. But there were certain affectations that were specific to him which I thought were important and lead with.”

His fellow actors were unprepared for the total transformation Carell brought when he arrived on set, already in character. “When Steve first walked out as du Pont, it gave me a shiver,” says Ruffalo. “In the thousands of hours of video footage I watched to prepare myself, two hundred of them included Dave interacting with du Pont in a coaching capacity. So I became very intimate with that man — who he was, how he sounded, how he moved. Steve’s ability to capture the physical qualities of du Pont was creepy and uncanny.”

Check out Carell’s Oscar chances over at Gold Derby as the pundits predict the upcoming awards race.

FOXCATCHER opens in theaters November 14.

Photos by Scott Garfield, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Channing Tatum Stars In New FOXCATCHER Trailer

Sony Pictures Classics has released a brand new teaser trailer for the upcoming film FOXCATCHER starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.

Based on true events, FOXCATCHER tells the dark and fascinating story of the unlikely and ultimately tragic relationship between an eccentric multi-millionaire and two champion wrestlers.

When Olympic Gold Medal winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is invited by wealthy heir John du Pont (Steve Carell) to move on to the du Pont estate and help form a team to train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics at his new state-of-the-art training facility, Schultz jumps at the opportunity, hoping to focus on his training and finally step out of the shadow of his revered brother, Dave (Mark Ruffalo). Driven by hidden needs, du Pont sees backing Schultz’s bid for Gold and the chance to “coach” a world-class wrestling team as an opportunity to gain the elusive respect of his peers and, more importantly, his disapproving mother (Vanessa Redgrave).

Meanwhile du Pont becomes fixated on Dave, who exudes the confidence both he and Mark lack, knowing that these are things even his money cannot buy. Fueled by du Pont’s increasing paranoia and alienation from the brothers, the trio is propelled towards a tragedy no one could have foreseen.

FOXCATCHER is a rich and moving story of brotherly love, misguided loyalty and the corruption and emotional bankruptcy that can accompany great power and wealth.

As with Academy Award nominee Bennett Miller’s previous feature films, CAPOTE and MONEYBALL, he explores large themes in society through his complex character portraits of real people.

FOXCATCHER opens in theaters on November 14, 2014.

https://www.facebook.com/FoxcatcherMovie

A little historical background on the family.

A vast dynasty of industrial enterprise and wealth, the du Pont family has one of the oldest and most prestigious legacies in American history.

The family traces its origins to France in the late eighteenth century. Pierre du Pont, one of the family’s oldest known relatives, was a confidante to King Louis XVI; his son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, was an apprentice to Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, a man considered to be the father of modern chemistry. At a time when the French were known for making the best gunpowder in the world, Eleuthère Irénée was able to learn the fine points of its manufacturing. Unfortunately, the
French Revolution cut short Eleuthère Irénée’s apprenticeship, and he fled France for America with Pierre and the rest of the DuPont family in October of 1799.

Soon after Eleuthère Irénée’s arrival in the United States, he became aware of the poor quality of the gunpowder being manufactured there. Seeing an opportunity, he opened his own black gunpowder mill in Wilmington, Delaware along Brandywine Creek in 1802. Applying his sophisticated knowledge of the manufacturing process, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont created a product that would impact the course of United States history for nearly two hundred years.

Eleuthère Irénée saw great success with the DuPont Company (while the family name is du Pont, the company is now referred to as DuPont) in his lifetime, but he also experienced tragedy when a series of explosions killed numerous workers at the mill in 1818.

When rapidly accumulating debts put DuPont’s future at risk, Eleuthère Irénée’s son, Alfred Victor, took over the leadership of the company. Unfortunately Alfred lacked the skills to save the company and after a decade of his management, DuPont was more than half a million dollars in debt. At this point, Henry du Pont, Alfred’s younger brother and Eleuthère Irénée’s youngest son, was asked to step in.

Henry was a West Point graduate and he immediately applied the discipline and leadership skills he learned there to provide fiscal stability for the company. As the DuPont Company stabilized under his guidance, Henry’s nephew and Alfred’s son Lammot du Pont emerged as a new force. Lammot was a gifted chemist with an impressive knack for business who at the age of 27 invented a new form of blasting powder.

Working together, Henry and Lammot were responsible for the company’s great successes in the late 1800s, when they were able to capitalize on the huge demand for their munitions resulting from the Civil War, as well as the railroad expansion in the American West. DuPont would go on to be the largest supplier of military explosives for the U.S. in the First World War and later become the creator of Nylon, Teflon, Mylar, Kevlar and Lycra.

The du Pont family’s steadfast commitment to hard work has resulted in a dynasty and fortune unrivaled in American history.

Today the du Pont name stands for a global company that has been on the leading edge of technological innovation for over two centuries.

The DuPont Company is currently valued at fifty billon dollars and serves more than seventy countries around the world.

John Eleuthère du Pont was the great-great-grandson of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont.

First Poster For Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER Stars Channing Tatum

Sony Pictures Classics has released the first teaser poster from director Bennett Miller’s upcoming film FOXCATCHER, starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Anthony Michael Hall, Vanessa Redgrave and Mark Ruffalo. (via People.com)

Based on true events, FOXCATCHER tells the dark and fascinating story of the unlikely and ultimately tragic relationship between an eccentric multi-millionaire and two champion wrestlers.

Miller won Best Director in May at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The film is written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman.

Ramin Setoodeh (Variety) said “Carell gives one of the most transformative performances of the year” and the actor is “an Oscar lock.”

Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter) wrote,”Playing a young man who doesn’t have a clue how to articulate his feelings and suffers for it, Tatum is a smoldering, festering piece of emotional raw meat, able to be manipulated this way and that by his benefactor. You feel his pain.”

FOXCATCHER is a rich and moving story of brotherly love, misguided loyalty and the corruption and emotional bankruptcy that can accompany great power and wealth.

As with Academy Award nominee Bennett Miller’s previous feature films, CAPOTE and MONEYBALL, he explores large themes in society through his complex character portraits of real people.

Tatum was the only one of the three lead actors who had to act in front of the person he was playing. “It was hard for Mark to watch and to have a real perspective on the movie because he only has what happened in real life to go from,” says Tatum. “Having him there was unbelievably helpful at times, in terms of the information that was given, but then other times it was definitely confusing trying to separate Mark’s real life emotions with what my job was to play him in the film.” (The real Mark Schultz has a cameo in the film).

Miller was able to work in such a free approach because he had the full backing of his producer, Megan Ellison and Annapurna Pictures. While Annapurna Pictures has since become known for such acclaimed films as THE MASTER, ZERO DARK THIRTY, HER, and AMERICAN HUSTLE, FOXCATCHER was in fact one of the first projects they took on.

Says Miller: “Making a film like this, which is not a predetermined, connect-the-dots, color-within-the-lines kind of thing, requires a leap of faith on the part of the producers and the actors. It’s almost like going into a documentary, where you don’t know exactly what form it will take when it’s finished, but the only way for the film to become what it needs to become is to go into it with a question mark.”

FOXCATCHER opens in theaters on November 14, 2014.

https://www.facebook.com/FoxcatcherMovie

Photos by Scott Garfield, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

First Clip & Official Teaser Trailer From Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER – Stars Steve Carell

Having its world premiere today, May 19th, in competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2014, Sony Pictures Classics has released the first clip and teaser trailer for their upcoming film FOXCATCHER, starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.

Variety film editor Ramin Setoodeh says Carell, “gives one of the most transformative performances of the year” and the actor is “an Oscar lock.”

Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter) writes,”Playing a young man who doesn’t have a clue how to articulate his feelings and suffers for it, Tatum is a smoldering, festering piece of emotional raw meat, able to be manipulated this way and that by his benefactor. You feel his pain.”

Read Justin Chang’s (Variety) review HERE and Craig Kennedy’s (Living in Cinema) review HERE.

Directed by Bennett Miller, the film opens in theaters on November 14th.

“I Want To Win Gold” Clip

Based on true events, FOXCATCHER tells the dark and fascinating story of the unlikely and ultimately tragic relationship between an eccentric multi-millionaire and two champion wrestlers.

When Olympic Gold Medal winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is invited by wealthy heir John du Pont (Steve Carell) to move on to the du Pont estate and help form a team to train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics at his new state-of-the-art training facility, Schultz jumps at the opportunity, hoping to focus on his training and finally step out of the shadow of his revered brother, Dave (Mark Ruffalo). Driven by hidden needs, du Pont sees backing Schultz’s bid for Gold and the chance to “coach” a world-class wrestling team as an opportunity to gain the elusive respect of his peers and, more importantly, his disapproving mother (Vanessa Redgrave).

Flattered by the attention and entranced by du Pont’s majestic world, Mark comes to see his benefactor as a father figure and grows increasingly dependent on him for approval. Though initially supportive, du Pont’s mercurial personality turns and he begins to lure Mark into an unhealthy lifestyle that threatens to undermine his training. Soon du Pont’s erratic behavior and cruel psychological game-play begin to erode the athlete’s already shaky self-esteem. Meanwhile du Pont becomes fixated on Dave, who exudes the confidence both he and Mark lack, knowing that these are things even his money cannot buy. Fueled by du Pont’s increasing paranoia and alienation from the brothers, the trio is propelled towards a tragedy no one could have foreseen.

The film also features Sienna Miller and Anthony Michael Hall.

Photos by Scott Garfield, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

New Photos Of Steve Carell, Channing Tatum And Mark Ruffalo In Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER

Steve Carell as John du Pont and Channing Tatum as Mark Schultz. Photo by Scott Garfield, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

Sony Pictures Classics has sent us two brand new images for director Bennett Miller’s
upcoming film FOXCATCHER.

Written by E. Max Frye and Academy Award nominee Dan Futterman, the film will have its World Premiere at the American Film Institute’s AFI FEST 2013 on Friday, November 8 as the Opening Weekend Gala.

Left to right: Channing Tatum as Mark Schultz and Mark Ruffalo as Dave Schultz. Photo by Scott Garfield, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

FOXCATCHER is a psychological drama directed by Academy Award nominee Bennett Miller (MONEYBALL) and starring Golden Globe winner Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Academy Award nominee Mark Ruffalo, Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave and Sienna Miller.

FOXCATCHER tells the story of Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Tatum), who sees a way out from the shadow of his more celebrated wrestling brother Dave (Ruffalo) and a life of poverty when he is summoned by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont (Carell) to move onto his estate and train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Desperate to gain the respect of his disapproving mother, du Pont begins “coaching” a world-class athletic team and, in the process, lures Mark into dangerous habits, breaks his confidence and drives him into a self-destructive spiral. Based on actual events, FOXCATCHER is a gripping and profoundly American story of fragile men who pinned their hopes for love and redemption on a desperate obsession for greatness that was to end in tragedy.

FOXCATCHER will be in theaters December 20, 2013.

First Look At Steve Carrell In Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER

Here’s a first look at Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER starring Steve Carrell.

Sony Pictures Classics announced last week that they will distribute the film in North America, currently in post-production, and will be released on December 20.

The cast also includes Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, Vanessa Redgrave and Anthony Michael Hall.

Based on a true story. It’s 1987, USA Olympic wrestling champions and brothers, Mark (Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Ruffalo), are preparing to defend their ’84 Golds at the ’88 Seoul Games. Mark, always in his brother’s shadow, loses his assistant coaching position, leaving him financially unstable although more eager than ever to prove himself in the upcoming Olympics. Unexpectedly, Mark receives a call from millionaire John E. du Pont (Carell), who flies Mark to his Pennsylvania estate where Du Pont intends to build a world class training facility for the USA Olympic Wrestling Team. Mark, awestruck and desperate, agrees to move there and pulls together a team of top wrestlers to train at DuPont’s Foxcatcher Farms.

All is going well, the wrestlers train in Foxcatcher’s magnificent facilities and even Dave moves his family to the estate to help coach. Soon however, Du Pont’s true colors show and he proves to be a bad influence on Mark, whose drive and focus wane. Mark is fed up when Du Pont’s distractions cause him to nearly lose the Olympic trials, and so he strikes a deal with Du Pont that Dave will stay and coach if Mark is allowed to train elsewhere. With Mark gone, Dave becomes the target of Du Pont’s worsening schizophrenia, which grows lethal.

Miller’s previous films, CAPOTE (Sony Pictures Classics) and MONEYBALL (Columbia Pictures) were both Academy Award nominees for Best Picture. The screenplay is by E. Max Frye (SOMETHING WILD, AMOS & ANDREW) and Dan Futterman (CAPOTE).

The film is produced by Megan Ellison under her company Annapurna Pictures, as well as, Miller and Anthony Bregman.

Photo: EW

New Poster of Brad Pitt in MONEYBALL

Check out the final poster from Sony Pictures’s MONEYBALL featuring the marvelous Brad Pitt. The film will be in theaters September 23, 2011. In July, fellow WAMG writer Travis Keune wrote, “MONEYBALL is a rare gem in an era when baseball doesn’t matter as much, and with a cast like this, could have the potential of being the best baseball flick since BULL DURHAM.

MONEYBALL is directed by Bennett Miller (CAPOTE). The screenplay is by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, from a story by Stan Chervin, based on the book by Michael Lewis. The film is produced by Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, and Scott Rudin.

Visit the film’s official site: http://www.moneyball-movie.com/

“Like” the MONEYBALL on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MoneyballMovie

First Look at the One-Sheet Poster for Brad Pitt’s MONEYBALL

Based on the book of the same name about Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s controversial statistics-based approach to drafting players, here’s a first look at the new poster for MONEYBALL, starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It’s a simple, geometric design that calls into thought the layered dimensions of a sport that by contemporary standards is nearly as hated as it is loved. Gone are the true days of baseball being America’s favorite past time, when everyone loved the game for the game and everyone had a home team and a favorite player. Today, money is as big a part of the game as the outfield lawn is vast. Baseball, like every other professional sport, is not just a business first, but a business, period. The few of us who have held on to the nostalgia of the game often feel as isolated as brad Pitt in this poster. Regardless, MONEYBALL is a rare gem in an era when baseball doesn’t matter as much, and with a cast like this, could have the potential of being the best baseball flick since BULL DURHAM.

“Like” the MONEYBALL on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/moneyballfilm

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