Mark Schultz, one of the leading characters in Bennett Miller‘s Foxcatcher, portrayed by Channing Tatum in the film, has gone a bit bananas on social media concerning how he’s portrayed in the film. His Facebook tirade exhibits a bit of homophobia, concerned with how some critics have interpreted his relationship with John du Pont (Steve Carell) in the film, as well as a clear frustration over how his brother, Dave (Mark Ruffalo) was portrayed compared to himself.
Weird thing is to wonder what prompted this screed now? As you’ll see in the video below, Schultz was on hand at the Cannes Film Festival with Tatum, Carell, Ruffalo and Miller to the point he’s hugging Tatum, smiling and even holding Miller’s hand as a champion.
So how did that, lead to this:
I was already an Olympic and WORLD Champion before I met du Pont. The director took my 1985 World Title away in the film. I was not emotionally fragile as critics suggest. I didn’t move to Pennsylvania to wrestle for Foxcatcher. I took an assistant coaching job at Villanova. I never looked up to duPont as a mentor, leader, father figure. He was a lot dirtier the first time I met him and he was drunk. He told me he would have nothing to do with Villanova which was the only reason I went there. du Pont was a repulsive sickening freak. I could barely stand looking at him. I never touched him except for a photo at the hall of fame and when I threw him in a headlock for a documentary. I never showed him any moves or taught him anything about wrestling. I never coached him in a wrestling match. I never read any speech he gave me. I never dyed my hair. Dave was my older brother, not a father-figure. After I won the NCAA’s and Dave took 2nd, Dave started asking me about technique and calling himself Mark Schultz’s brother. I was a 3x NCAA Champion. Dave won once. After 1986 I started beating Dave in practice consistently. I never worked out in the new wrestling complex duPont built in the film. If du Pont ever slapped me I’d have knocked his head off. I never wrestled after Dave moved onto Foxcatcher Farms. I was doing Jiu-Jitsu at BYU. Dave was never a head coach anywhere. I was a Division I University Head Coach for 6 years. Dave was intelligent but no more than me. Just coz I wasn’t filling the silence with superfluous noise all the time doesn’t mean I was inarticulate. I earned a masters degree with a 3.6 gpa. I’m a corporate speaker and life coach. The movie doesn’t show hardly any of my victories. It focuses on only my losses. The personalities and relationships between the characters in the film are primarily fiction and somewhat insulting. Leaving the audience with a feeling that somehow there could have been a sexual relationship between duPont and I is a sickening and insulting lie. I told Bennett Miller to cut that scene out and he said it was to give the audience the feeling that duPont was encroaching on your privacy and personal space. I wasn’t explicit so I didn’t have a problem with it. Then after reading 3 or 4 reviews interpreting it sexually, and jeopardizing my legacy, they need to have a press conference to clear the air, or I will.
[amz asin=”B00QK4ANEI” size=”small”]As far as I can tell, Schultz doesn’t have a problem with Miller, but with how critics are interpreting the film, which has led to issues with other portions of the film it sounds like he originally signed off on. But Schultz doesn’t see it that way as he took things even farther on Twitter.
These first tweets (via HitFix) have since been deleted…
The tweets that follow have not yet been deleted, but I decided to screen capture them anyway in case they were once cooler heads prevailed.
[amz asin=”0525955038″ size=”small”]Schultz points out on his Twitter account the release of his memoir, “Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother’s Murder, John du Pont’s Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold” citing it as “[t]he truth behind Foxcatcher”.
Looking through his timeline he clearly has taken issue with his portrayal in the film for some time, but it also all seems to have taken place after his book was published. In fact, as Foxcatcher made its way to Toronto he posted a tweet saying, “Next up…Toronto Film Festival to watch my story unfold at the hands of the world’s greatest director and 3 of the world’s greatest actors.”
https://twitter.com/MarkSchultzy/status/508788707290546176
https://twitter.com/MarkSchultzy/status/511728223601053697
https://twitter.com/MarkSchultzy/status/511723187563163648
Hmmmmmm, seems Schultzy has figured out the world of self-promotion and marketing and run with it.
UPDATE: Here’s an interview with Schultz in which he’s asked point blank, “Would you say the movie is very close to what actually happened?” To which he responds, “Yes, I would… The director is a genius. He is a master filmmaker. It’s like he was able to condense everything down and compress everything down, and he used fictional, narrative techniques to get to the heart and truth of the story.” [Thanks to gerberzy for the link]
UPDATE #2: Schultz has now said on Twitter he was coached on the answer I referenced in the above interview and that he must “support the movie until the Oscars” after which he’ll sit down for an interview with Katie Couric.
https://twitter.com/MarkSchultzy/status/549847797466279936
