There is a tremendous amount of buzz surrounding Steve Carell’s upcoming performance in Foxcatcher. In fact, the actor is expected to be a major force this awards season. He is, by all accounts, great in the film. Those who have followed the former Office star’s career, however, shouldn’t be too shocked, however. He’s always been able to tap into tremendous sadness and loneliness behind his eyes. He just needed the right project, and apparently, a director to threaten him with something really fucked up.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Bennett Miller told Steve Carell to write down the worst thing he’d ever done in his entire life, to find a moment that was so evil and/ or embarrassing that he would never tell his wife. He then made him put the piece of paper inside his pocket before shooting the movie's most pivotal scene. He wanted him to realize that at any moment in time, anyone could reach out, grab his personal shame and tell the world.
Here’s a portion of what Bennett Miller actually told him…
"Just have it right there, and know that it's in a place where, if I was a dick, I could just grab it."
Every director seems to have a different approach to getting great performances out of his or her actors. There are some who spend hours and hours meticulously dissecting and talking out every single motivation behind a character’s behavior. There are some who prefer to bring the talent together weeks ahead of time in order to rehearse over and over again. There are some who shoot take after take. Some like short days. Others like long days. Apparently Bennett Miller likes this morally complicated approach. But if it works, it works.
It’ll be interesting to see where Steve Carell’s career goes from here. He’s obviously most known as a comedian, but if he makes a few good dramatic movies in a row, we may completely alter the way we look at him, at which point he’ll need to decide whether to leave the siliness behind, waffle back and forth between the two genres or return fully back to comedy, content he’s proven his talents.
To check out the brand new Foxcatcher poster, you can flip over to the net page…
