The Marvel Avengers Assemble actor,
Mark Ruffalo is in talks to join
Steve Carell and
Channing Tatum for the long-gestating drama Foxcatcher.
The true crime drama will be based on the 1996 murder of Olympics wrestler David Schultz.
Director
Bennett Miller's follow up to last year's Moneyball, the film will depict John du Pont, heir to the du Pont fortune, who built his own wrestling training facility called Team Foxcatcher, on his Pennsylvania estate.
But du Pont was also a paranoid schizophrenic who believed that there was an international conspiracy in place to kill him – a conspiracy that he believed his long-time friend, Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler Dave Schultz was a part of. That belief led du Pont to shoot and kill Schultz in 1996, in front of both Schultz's wife and du Pont's head of security. After the shooting, du Pont barricaded himself in his mansion for two days while negotiating with the police. Police never established a motive for the crime. Declared ‘guilty but mentally ill' by a Delaware County jury, duPont spent the final 13 years of his life behind bar.
Ruffalo would be playing the co-lead as David Schultz, Tatum will play Mark Schultz, his younger brother who was also an Olympic champion wrestler and Carell will portray convicted killer John du Pont.
Production on the film is set to kick off this October in Pittsburg from a script by E. Max Frye (Band of Brothers) and
Dan Futterman (Capote).
No doubt, Ruffalo has a busy year with some genuinely fascinating projects in the works.
Source:
Variety
