Today sees Bennett Miller’s great “Foxcatcher” expand to more theaters nationwide, bringing the true story of the wealthy John du Pont, and his tragic dream of building an Olympic wrestling team, to an even bigger audience. And today we have some vintage footage and interviews you’ll want to check out either before you hit the cinema, or after you see the film.
First up is a fifteen-minute-long video from 1988 — originally shot for an awards banquet — where the real John du Pont takes us on a tour of the Foxcatcher farm. It’s downright spooky how similar Steve Carell in the film looks like the real du Pont. The video may be a puff piece but it’s still worth watching to see how close Miller’s film got to the real deal, and to compare the subject of "Foxcatcher" to the actor playing him.
Meanwhile, To promote the release of the new film, Miller stopped by The Close-Up, a weekly podcast from the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The result is a nearly hour-long intimate conversation covering Miller’s career and how he approaches filmmaking. And finally, Vice has a couple of half-hour video interviews with both Miller and his cast (Carell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo) on the themes of the film, how much leeway they had in dramatizing real events, and the film’s reception at Cannes. Watch all the videos below and catch “Foxcatcher” in a theater near you.