Channing Tatum paid tribute to wrestler David Schultz through Foxcatcher. While preparing for the role he realised that wrestling is an intimate sport and is a lot like chess
What was it like to bond with Mark Ruffalo through wrestlingIJ
In wrestling, there’s a lot being said to each other without talking. You’re in a quiet gym and you just hear grunts, slams, slaps and hard breathing. The way that you hand fight, it’s a bit of a chess match. You’re constantly baiting and trying to set up something that you want. Throughout our journey of finding these two men in us, we had to go through a lot of very humbling experiences. You don’t feel like you’re doing very well, at all, especially in the beginning when you’re learning and one person is getting somewhere better than you are. Mark and I were both there for each other, throughout that learning process. We learned, on a very small level, what it really is to be there for someone on that level. I think it has to do with friendship that we created through wrestling.
How did it feel to train for a sport as tough as wrestlingIJ
Wrestling is an intimate thing, even though it’s super violent. You have to be comfortable being basically wrestling naked. It’s weird. From an outsider’s perspective it looks very homosexual. I always say, ‘Come on and try it out. You’ll see how non homosexual that is.’ It’s too painful. It’s like chess, but a violent one.
Will this film change the kind of movies you will be signing nextIJ
I just think they’re all different muscles. Comedy doesn’t come easy to me. I’ve only done two movies that are really comedy style films and I had to work on them. They’re just as scary. I hate labelling these things — comedy, love story, dark drama or whatever. I’ve only played one other person that was real before. The stakes are very, very high. I have to live with Mark Schultz in the world and hope that I did some amount of justice for him. Things are a little more tangible. They’re not just in some high-stakes, make-believe game that movies are. I enjoyed going deeper than I’ve ever gone into a character, for sure. I can’t say that I want to do this forever. I think that I’ll just find the people that I want to work with and then go do it with them.
What kind of satisfaction does a movie like Foxcatcher give youIJ
I don’t know. It’s really the journey that you get to go on with the people you’re doing it with. You are playing someone else, but ultimately, it’s just a version of the person because you have to do it. I can’t put everything that Mark Schultz is, in a 90-minute movie. It doesn’t work like that. I’m just telling Bennett’s (director) story. You try to be as honest as you can possibly be and just keep digging, every day. I don’t say this as a bad thing but I don’t think we left a day feeling amazing or feeling like, ‘Oh, my God, we crushed that scene.’ You just don’t on a movie like this. I think we did all right. The satisfaction, after walking away from it, is knowing that you left it all out there and you gave all the colours you could possibly give, so that someone could paint a picture.
Please share something about the movie which is also a very probing examination of vulnerability.
I had a unique opportunity to be able to talk to Mark Schultz and spend some time with him. That’s always interesting because we are telling a story and he has his entire life that we can’t fit in. You obviously can take the physical things, the way he walks or little eccentricities that he has, but I think one of the biggest lessons that I learned on this film is I came in with a plan that I had prepared and after the first day I felt like I ruined it. I didn’t feel like I did anything right and what I realised was that this wasn’t a bar that I was going to jump up and hit; you just keep digging and trying to find the truth in Mark and the film and what we were doing. You have to give yourself over to it and let it come through.
Did you take any real life references to get into the skin of this characterIJ
Personally, I like being pushed into corners. It forces you to be creative. Being a stripper exposed me to a lot of people I might never have met and that has turned out to be a gift. There are lots of characters I feel I can play as a result. So when people tell me they want to act, I’m like, ‘Okay, if you want to act, go see America. If you can afford gas money, go talk to people and see how they really live.’
How did it feel to essay a character that is inspired from real lifeIJ
I wanted to honour Dave (David Schultz) to the best of my abilities. The only way I knew how to do that was to go out in the world and find out as much as I could about him. There’s a little bit of a reportage quality to the job at that point — you’re out in the world as a detective in a weird way. I became very close to Dave’s wife Nancy and other people who knew him well. For example, John Giura, Dave’s coach and one of his best friends. John not only coached me about the way Dave wrestled but he also was my lodestone — somebody I could always ask if the way I did a scene felt like Dave. Knowing that this stuff is real gives it another level of gravity. Even if the movie is good, if you’re not honest to it, you’re failing somehow. I think all of us would just roll over and die if we felt like we had failed.
How would you sum up your experience of being a part of FoxcatcherIJ
I challenge anyone who thinks their sport is harder to come and try it. This has been the most painful movie I have ever done. I never want to wrestle again.