'Foxcatcher' Subject Mark Schultz Lashes Out at Director Bennett Miller
by Diana Swartz
One of the real-life subjects of Sony Pictures Classics’ Oscar hopeful wrestling drama Foxcatcher is unhappy with director Bennett Miller’s portrayal of his character, and he wants the world to know it.
Mark Schultz, a gold medal-winning Olympic wrestler, took to Twitter and Facebook to fact-check the script and rant about Miller and the film on Tuesday and Wednesday, calling the director a “punk,” “pussy” and “liar” and threatening his career. Schultz had previously indicated his support for the film through various Twitter and Facebook posts, at one point changing his Facebook cover picture to a photo of him with Miller at the movie’s Cannes premiere. Channing Tatum plays Schultz in the movie, which has been nominated for Golden Globe, SAG and Critics’ Choice awards.
Read more How the Media Covered The Real Events That Inspired ‘Foxcatcher’
Reps for Sony Pictures Classics, Miller and Tatum have not yet responded to The Hollywood Reporter’s requests for comment.
Schultz’s harshest name-calling tweets were later deleted.
See more Channing Tatum: Exclusive Portraits of the ‘Foxcatcher’ Star
Many caustic posts remain, though, including these:
"YOU CROSSED THE LINE MILLER. WE’RE DONE. YOU’RE CAREER IS OVER. YOU THINK I CAN’T DO IT. WATCH ME."
"YOU THINK I’M GOING TO SIT BACK AND WATCH YOU DESTROY MY NAME AND REPUTATION I SWEAT BLOOD FOR. YOU AINT’ SEEN NOTHING YET DUDE."
"I BUILT THIS HOUSE AND I’LL TEAR IT DOWN. YOU THINK I CAN’T TAKE YOU DOWN COZ UR A DIRECTOR. WATCH ME BENNETT…"
"I CAN TOLERATE A LOT OF THINGS BUT I DON’T TOLERATE DISRESPECT. WE’RE DONE BENNETT."
"Everything I’ve ever said positive about the movie I take back. I hate it. i hate it. i hate it. I hate it. i hate it. i hate it. I hate it"
"I HATE BENNETT MILLER."
"I HATE EVERYTHING THAT SCUM TOUCHES. EVERYTHING!!!"
Schultz also wrote a Facebook post that went more in depth:
"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.”
