foxcatcher-09

It might take a moment to process that the above picture is indeed of Steve Carell, but I’m not pulling your leg. The next film from director Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball) is called Foxcatcher and tells some portion of the incredibly bizarre story of John DuPont, who died in prison after being convicted of committing the unmotivated murder of one of his close friends.

foxcatcherBefore things turned dark for DuPont, the extremely wealthy man wrote books about birds, founded a natural history museum in Delaware, and actively supported amateur US wrestling. It was the latter hobby that brought him into contact with Olympians Mark and David Schultz. The brothers are played by Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo, and the wrestlers became wrapped up in DuPont’s increasing erraticism and fateful crime.

Miller had some interesting thoughts for EW about why he chose a comedian for such a strange, dark role…

“I had met Steve before, and there was something about him that really interested me. There’s something guarded and a real intelligence going on behind his eyes,” says Miller. “I love performances like Jerry Lewis in The King of Comedy, and Peter Sellers in everything, and working with Jonah [Hill] in Moneyball. Comedians are dark, but I think we tend to think of them along the lines of what they project. I just think there’s a hell of a lot more to Steve than he tends to show.”

The film is set for a December 20th release. This strikes me as Miller returning to his Capote wheelhouse more than that of Moneyball, but the beauty is that there’s really no telling what kind of film this will be. Yet another late 2013 release I’m desperate to see.