The True Story of Foxcatcher
Disclaimer: The following contains spoilers of the film “Foxcatcher.”
The famous du Pont last name belongs to one of the wealthiest families in American history. John du Pont grew up on the Foxcatcher Farm, originally established by his parents as a thoroughbred racing stable. His parents found great success in horse racing, but it was not a passion of John’s. Along with his interests in nature and specifically birds, du Pont also struck up an enthusiasm for wrestling in his later life.
Once his mother passed away, du Pont built a state-of-the-art wrestling facility on Foxcatcher Farm. He sponsored Team Foxcatcher, named after his father’s stable, and invited some of the best athletes from around the country to come train at his facility.
Among those invited were brothers Dave and Mark Schultz, who both won gold medals in the 1984 Olympics. While both won gold, the elder brother Dave was certainly the more decorated wrestler of the two.
Because of this, du Pont took up a personal interest in Mark and encouraged him to break out from behind his brother’s shadow. John du Pont would quickly become much more than a simple sponsor and eventually took over Team Foxcatcher as the head coach. His only prior experience in wrestling was his freshman year of high school. This ruffled some feathers, however the wrestlers lived with it.
Du Pont was gracious enough: he paid many of the wrestlers to train and even let some consistent members live in houses on his farm, including Dave and Nancy Schultz. Many were intimidated by the wealth of du Pont and chose to not speak out against him.
As the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta drew nearer, something was clearly off about John du Pont. He became paranoid and began to carry around a hand gun, even in training sessions. He hired a bodyguard who followed him around throughout the day. Du Pont would even threaten one of his wrestlers with a machine gun, accusing him of tripping him. John would also add expensive security measures to be built inside the mansion.
Mark Schultz became increasingly wary of du Pont’s behavior and was anxious to leave. However, with the Olympics so near, he felt he would let down his students and teammates if he left in the waning months before the Olympics.
But Schultz’s loyalty would cost him his life. On January 26, 1996, John du Pont and his bodyguard drove down to the house Dave Schultz was staying in on Foxcatcher Farm. Dave came out to the driveway to greet John and du Pont immediately shot him. Dave’s wife, Nancy, came out of the house and du Pont pointed the gun at her and demanded for her to return inside the house. Du Pont then fired two more bullets into Dave’s back.
Du Pont locked himself inside his mansion after the shooting and a standoff with the FBI later ensued. The FBI would eventually be able to cut off the power to the house and capture du Pont. His motive for killing Schultz was unclear.
The judge would find du Pont guilty of third degree murder but mentally ill. A psychiatric witness in the case described du Pont as a paranoid schizophrenic. John du Pont would spend the rest of his life in jail.
Slowly being released to theaters nationally is the film “Foxcatcher,” which tells the tragic story of John du Pont and the Schultz brothers. Foxcatcher was directed by “Moneyball” directer Bennett Miller and stars Steve Carell as du Pont. Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo play Mark and Dave Schultz, respectively. The film was awarded a Golden Globe nomination for Best Drama, and Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo received acting nominations as well.
“Foxcatcher” is a riveting and gripping film and the truth behind the narrative makes it all the more dark. It’s easily one of the best movies of the year.