Channing Tatum to Play Olympic Gold Medalist/UFC Fighter Mark Schultz in ‘Foxcatcher’


(Oh yeah. The resemblance is just…uncanny.)

In 1984, freestyle wrestling legend Mark Schultz won a gold medal in the 82kg division at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. His older brother Dave Schultz also won freestyle wrestling gold that year, in the weight-class directly below his (74kg).

Twelve years later, Dave was shot dead by millionaire philanthropist — and stone-cold crazy-dude — John duPont, who had turned his family’s sprawling estate in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, into a training camp for amateur wrestlers. (duPont was later convicted of third-degree murder.) At the time of the shooting, Dave was coaching duPont’s “Team Foxcatcher” wrestling squad, and preparing for another Olympic bid.

Four months after his brother’s death, in May 1996, Mark Schultz entered UFC 9 and defeated Gary Goodridge by TKO due to cut, after 12 minutes of combat. Mark never competed in MMA again.

That’s the basic story behind Foxcatcher, a movie slated for release later this year that is based on Mark’s biography and is already drawing absurdly-premature Oscar buzz. The film is directed by Bennett Miller (Moneyball, Capote) and its cast includes Mark Ruffalo as Dave Schultz, Channing Tatum as Mark Schultz, and eccentric millionaire Steve Carell as eccentric millionaire John duPont.

The exact release date hasn’t been locked down yet, but it sounds like a hell of a story, and we figured we’d pass along a piece of vaguely MMA-related Hollywood news that doesn’t involve Gina or Ronda. All we can say is that C-Tates + six months of sprawl training sounds like a deadly combination.


(Oh yeah. The resemblance is just…uncanny.)

In 1984, freestyle wrestling legend Mark Schultz won a gold medal in the 82kg division at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. His older brother Dave Schultz also won freestyle wrestling gold that year, in the weight-class directly below his (74kg).

Twelve years later, Dave was shot dead by millionaire philanthropist — and stone-cold crazy-dude — John duPont, who had turned his family’s sprawling estate in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, into a training camp for amateur wrestlers. (duPont was later convicted of third-degree murder.) At the time of the shooting, Dave was coaching duPont’s “Team Foxcatcher” wrestling squad, and preparing for another Olympic bid.

Four months after his brother’s death, in May 1996, Mark Schultz entered UFC 9 and defeated Gary Goodridge by TKO due to cut, after 12 minutes of combat. Mark never competed in MMA again.

That’s the basic story behind Foxcatcher, a movie slated for release later this year that is based on Mark’s biography and is already drawing absurdly-premature Oscar buzz. The film is directed by Bennett Miller (Moneyball, Capote) and its cast includes Mark Ruffalo as Dave Schultz, Channing Tatum as Mark Schultz, and eccentric millionaire Steve Carell as eccentric millionaire John duPont.

The exact release date hasn’t been locked down yet, but it sounds like a hell of a story, and we figured we’d pass along a piece of vaguely MMA-related Hollywood news that doesn’t involve Gina or Ronda. All we can say is that C-Tates + six months of sprawl training sounds like a deadly combination.