Foxcatcher Subject Mark Schultz Goes on Facebook, Twitter Rant Against Movie's Director, Says It's "Insulting"

Person who inspired the movie slams Bennett Miller

By Francesca Bacardi Dec 31, 2014 8:51 PMTags
FoxcatcherScott Garfield/Fair Hill

Mark Schultz, the real one that is, is not pleased with Bennett Miller, the director of the buzzworthy movie, Foxcatcher. The inspiration for the movie went on several tirades on Facebook and Twitter to express his disgust with how the probable Oscar-contender apparently is not very accurate.

"Pretty lousy what the director did to my character huh?" the wrestler asks on Facebook, marking the beginning of a lengthy diatribe against the Hollywood director.

It seems like Schultz only wants to set the record straight, but the timing is curious because he watched the movie several months ago. After naming a laundry list of items allegedly inaccurate about the film, the Olympian ended his slam by discussing the film's homosexual undertones that some critics have called out in their reviews.

"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," Schultz wrote.

Scott Garfield/Fair Hill

"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," he added.

The attack against Miller on Facebook, however, was just the beginning for Schultz. Attacking on all social media fronts, the NCAA champion also went after the director on Twitter, writing scathing comments and threats.

"YOU CROSSED THE LINE MILLER. WE'RE DONE. YOU'RE CAREER IS OVER. YOU THINK I CAN'T DO IT. WATCH ME," he tweeted.

He followed up with several other tweets, one of which includes a link back to his Facebook profile.

"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," he added.

Although the movie's star, Steve Carell, felt the homoerotic themes "difficult" to discuss during the Telluride Film FestivalChanning Tatum, who plays Schultz, addressed the undertones head on.

"Because it's so uncomfortable to be wrapped in another man that closely, I guess the homoerotic jokes that have to take place is a whole part of the culture," he said of amateur wrestling. "But du Pont, as far as that goes, I don't know. I just settled on he's asexual. I never really looked at this as a sexual thing, personally. I looked at it way more in the emotional rather than the physical."