Foxcatcher

[TomM]

du Pont tragedy film 'Foxcatcher' hits the silver screen 
http://www.delconewsnetwork.com/articles/2014/11/05/life/doc545a78b5254b2755157497.txt

[imnofish]

I hope it shows up here somewhere.  I really want to see it.  If it doesn't, might be a good excuse for a road trip.   

[Hungus]

Per Sony, will be opening in Milwaukee on 12-19
They are doing what they call a rolling release, LA & NY next Friday then they add cities every Friday to gain some word of mouth.
If it does well in Milwaukee the rest of the state should have it in mid-January

Friend of mine lives in LA saw a prescreen, can not stop talking about it, said Carrell will blow your mind.

[imnofish]

I'd drive to Minneapolis to watch it.  Hopefully, it plays in Rice Lake or EauClaire.

[shoes]

I am glad to see the wheels this thread has created !  The book is a great read that you won't put down if you want hear the story as written by Mark Schultz (with Dave Thomas) before you see the movie.  I am really hoping it is as good!  Also, because of the earlier ties Dave had with the Wisconsin wrestling community before foxcatcher, there are a few coaches and ex coaches in our state that actually can tell you from first hand experience how accurate the portrayals in the movie are because they were there.  I don't want to say who they are for privacy reasons, but during the early parts of the upcoming season ask around and you will most likely be lead to some pretty good sources that can give some great insight.

[TomM]

'Foxcatcher' tells story of murder, money and wrestling
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2014/11/09/foxcatcher-steve-carell-john-du-pont-dave-schultz-wrestling/18766319/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatodaycomolympicscoverage-topstories

[TomM]

Doug Moe: 'Foxcatcher' character coached wrestling in Madison
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/columnists/doug-moe/doug-moe-foxcatcher-character-coached-wrestling-in-madison/article_ad9477a9-6a21-57d3-b113-1223fdc99d03.html
DOUG MOE dmoe@madison.com, 608-252-6446

They built the set of "Foxcatcher," a film that opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles, with such care that Nancy Schultz felt like she was back in her old house.

"Right down to the books on the shelves," Schultz said recently by phone from Philadelphia, where the movie had an early premiere.

Schultz said Mark Ruffalo, the actor who plays her husband, Dave Schultz, in the film, so embodied the role, and looked so much the part, that Nancy's adult daughter joked on the set about climbing into his lap. That's how much Ruffalo reminded her of her dad.

Yet for all the care and respect the filmmakers put into getting "Foxcatcher" right, surely it must have been difficult for Nancy Schultz to revisit the story, at least its end.

"It really wasn't," she said. "It was a true honor to be a part of the movie."

The film — which has received rapturous early reviews, and earned Bennett Miller ("Moneyball," "Capote") the best director award at Cannes last spring — tells the story of Dave Schultz, who was an Olympic wrestling champion, his younger brother, Mark Schultz, also a gold medal-winning wrestler, and how their lives intersected with John du Pont, heir to a chemical company fortune. Du Pont built a matchless training facility for elite wrestlers on his Foxcatcher estate outside Philadelphia. At the same time, the millionaire was sinking into madness.

Du Pont is played by Steve Carell, Mark Schultz is played by Channing Tatum, and Nancy Schultz is portrayed by Sienna Miller.

I was speaking with Nancy last week — we had chatted once before, in early 2013 — because in 1986, her husband's wrestling brought them to Madison. The Badgers' wrestling coach, Andy Rein — Dave's teammate at the 1984 Olympics — hired Schultz as an assistant.

"I feel like I'm in heaven here," Schultz told The Capital Times in September 1986. He and Nancy and their young son, Alexander, had been in Madison a month by then.

"The athletic department really seems to be behind the program," Schultz said in the interview. The story detailed his wrestling accomplishments prior to coming to Madison, a dazzling resume that included multiple world championships, complemented by a generous spirit and charismatic personality.

"The way everyone has treated us here," Schultz said, "it already feels like home."

He did miss California, Schultz said, where he was a state high school wrestling champion. "It's not the climate that I miss, it's the activities. I like to scuba dive. I love to scuba dive. I miss that. I dreamed about it last night."

The family, which soon included a new daughter, Danielle, stayed in Madison until early 1989, when Dave took a position in Colorado with the U.S. national team. Before the year was out, they would move again — to du Pont's Foxcatcher estate, where Dave would join his brother, Mark, as a coach at the newly minted 14,000-square-foot wrestling facility.

It was Mark Schultz who made the original du Pont connection. While Dave was coaching in Madison, Mark was an assistant at Villanova University, where John du Pont funded the creation of a wrestling program with the stipulation that he be the coach. Du Pont proved a loose enough cannon that the school abandoned wrestling after just two seasons. Du Pont, undaunted, established the training center at Foxcatcher.

There has never been a lot of money in wrestling.

Being able to live comfortably while training against the best of their peers was a gift. "Steel sharpens steel," Dave Schultz said, quoting Badgers wrestling great Lee Kemp. At night, the young families gathered for cookouts.

"It was a kind of utopia," Nancy said. "For a while."

The New York Times wrote of du Pont, quoting Foxcatcher wrestlers, "His behavior changed from unconventional to troubling over the years."

"Serious mental health issues," Nancy said. In 1995, the Times reported, at the world wrestling championships in Atlanta, "du Pont wore an orange jumpsuit and asked to be introduced as the Dalai Lama."

Dave, always the one who could reason with du Pont, was becoming increasingly concerned. After the Olympics in 1996, he and Nancy were planning to leave Foxcatcher.

On the afternoon of Jan. 26, 1996, Dave and Nancy were inside their home at Foxcatcher when Dave said he was going outside to work on their car radio. Nancy heard a shot and a scream from her husband. She looked out and saw du Pont holding a gun. There were more shots. Nancy called 911.

Du Pont was found guilty but mentally ill. Sentenced to 13 to 30 years, he died in prison in 2010.

Nancy Schultz has lived in the San Francisco Bay area since a few months after Dave's murder. His family and friends helped her raise their two children.

After du Pont's death — he had threatened her from prison — Nancy felt better able to cooperate both with the making of "Foxcatcher," and a documentary, "David," due out next year.

Nancy said Sony Pictures encouraged her to invite many of the wrestlers who lived at Foxcatcher to the movie's Philadelphia premiere earlier this month. "It was very nice to be able to share the film with people who cared so much for Dave," she said.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/columnists/doug-moe/doug-moe-foxcatcher-character-coached-wrestling-in-madison/article_ad9477a9-6a21-57d3-b113-1223fdc99d03.html#ixzz3IhNjK1zh

[bkraus]

Per Sony, will be opening in Milwaukee on 12-19
They are doing what they call a rolling release, LA & NY next Friday then they add cities every Friday to gain some word of mouth.
If it does well in Milwaukee the rest of the state should have it in mid-January

Friend of mine lives in LA saw a prescreen, can not stop talking about it, said Carrell will blow your mind.

Marcus Theaters has it listed on their website as November 21st release in their theaters.  Not sure if this is selected theaters or not.

[Handles II]

Lame part about that is that Milwaukee isn't a big wrestling area. So those of you out and around the 'burbs', skate your way into town bring your family, friends, neighbors and pets and pack the theaters so that the rest of the state can get a view of this movie.

[TomM]

Brother of Olympic champion murdered by wealthy du Pont heir says new Channing Tatum movie has helped him finally come to terms with the senseless crime

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2834082/Brother-Olympic-champion-murdered-wealthy-du-Pont-heir-says-new-Channing-Tatum-movie-helped-finally-comes-terms-senseless-crime.html#ixzz3J63TusTr
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[TomM]

Goodwin: The last man to wrestle Dave Schultz
http://www.dailyiowan.com/2014/11/14/Sports/40039.html

BY CODY GOODWIN | NOVEMBER 14, 2014 5:00 AM
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The last man to wrestle Dave Schultz remembers their last conversation as a normal one. It was Jan., 25, 1996, and Brandon Slay, a business student and wrestler at the University of Pennsylvania at the time, had just gotten his tail kicked by Schultz, widely regarded as one of the sport's greatest technicians.

Afterward, Slay gathered his things to head back to Penn's campus, around 25 miles from "The Farm," as they called it. "Hey, I'll see you again next Tuesday," he recalls telling Schultz.

The next day, Schultz, at just 36, was gunned down by multimillionaire John du Pont.

"I was in our locker room at Penn," Slay said. "Coach [Roger] Reina came in and said, 'Hey Brandon, I need to talk to you.' And I knew that whatever he was going to share with me wasn't good.
"He said John killed Dave, about 3 o'clock."

The story of Schultz's death is highlighted in the movie Foxcatcher, which tells the harrowing tale of du Pont and his relationship with Schultz and younger brother Mark. The movie is set to release in select markets today.

Slay, now 39 and a resident freestyle coach for USA Wrestling, watched the movie last week. Schultz's widow, Nancy, flew to Colorado Springs and gathered those who were involved in her husband's life for an early screening at the Olympic Training Center.

"It was emotionally grueling for me because it hit so close to home," Slay said. "I knew Dave. I trained with Dave. I was very close to Foxcatcher ... When they showed [Schultz's murder], it was pretty difficult to watch."

Watching the movie took Slay, if only for a couple of hours, back to The Farm. He was back wrestling with Schultz in the Foxcatcher practice room, the one with mats like those used in the Olympics that had a navy-blue poster hanging with "Team Foxcatcher" on it, the exact place where, according to several wrestlers at the time, du Pont once walked in carrying a gun.

"Seeing the guys run around The Farm and go into the wrestling room at Foxcatcher," Slay said. "It was eerily similar."

Being back on The Farm for those few hours allowed the memories of that whole year to flow like a coursing river. Slay was in his third year at Penn at the time but decided to take that season off from competition. He drove out to Foxcatcher every Tuesday and Thursday to train with the team.

Slay befriended Schultz during that time. He hardly ever scored on Schultz during live goes, and if he did, "I think it was because he gave it to me," he said and laughed. "Dave kind of threw me a bone every now and then."

After practices, Slay picked Schultz's brain about specific wrestling techniques. Schultz always obliged, and in both 1997 and 1998, Slay earned All-American honors at the NCAA Tournament, placing second both years at 167 pounds.

The time spent around Schultz helped bolster Slay's wrestling ability — he ultimately won an Olympic gold in the 2000 Sydney Games and dedicated the medal to Schultz — but it also taught Slay what made Schultz such a loose, easy-going, personable guy.

There's the story of Schultz learning Russian because he traveled there so often. A lot of Russian wrestlers, coaches, and fans appreciated that, and rooted for him on the mat. Schultz was once given one of those beaver-skin hats, and he relished wearing it.

There was even a moment when Slay and Schultz sat in the sauna together. Schultz loved tea and had a cup with him in the sauna. All of a sudden, he jumped and spilled on Slay's leg.

"He had just got done boiling the water, so it was scalding hot," Slay said and laughed. "I screamed out profanities. He goes, 'Man, was that hot?' I go, yeah, it's hot. So he took the same cup of tea and poured some of it on his leg and burned himself, just so he could feel the same pain and experience what I just experienced.

"That's the type of guy Dave was. He was very adventurous and wanted to live life to the fullest."

Foxcatcher centers more on the life of Mark Schultz, but Slay said the film does a good job of depicting Dave as himself, a guy who was universally loved in the sport of wrestling. The problem with death is that we often emphasize the years on the tombstone more than we do the dash in-between. With Dave Schultz, his story, and all that he stood for, lives on in a myriad of ways.

Slay admitted to being apprehensive about seeing the movie. He was worried about how they would represent his hero-turned-practice partner.

After the viewing, though, he couldn't help but smile.

"My college-wrestling coach, he named his son Dave, after Dave Schultz," Slay said. "And I told Coach Reina, you would be totally fine taking your son to see that movie and knowing that that man is his eponym.

"David Reina, after watching Foxcatcher, will be proud to know that he was named after Dave Schultz."

Follow @codygoodwin on Twitter for updates, news, and analysis about the Iowa wrestling team.

[TomM]

Steve Carell Plays Eccentric Wrestling Coach in 'Foxcatcher'
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/steve-carell-plays-eccentric-wrestling-coach-foxcatcher-26856411

[TomM]

Ruffalo, Tatum and Carell shine in 'Foxcatcher' 
Wisconsin Gazette
http://www.wisconsingazette.com/film/reviewbreakruffalo-tatum-and-carell-shine-in-foxcatcher.html

[TomM]

Mark Schultz: 'Foxcatcher' greater than Olympics
http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/14/mark-schultz-foxcatcher-wrestling-olympics/

[TomM]

Team Foxcatcher: When Swimming and Wrestling Lived Under One Roof
http://swimswam.com/team-foxcatcher-swimming-wrestling-lived-one-roof/