FILM 1773: ANDRE THE GIANT

FILM 1773: ANDRE THE GIANT

A look at the life and career of professional wrestler André Roussimoff, who gained notoriety in the 1980s as Andre the Giant.

FILM 1306: FOXCATCHER

TRIVIA: According to Channing Tatum, he and Mark Ruffalo spent an intensive five to six months training for wrestling, which took its toll on the actors. During one particularly physical take, Channing insisted to Ruffalo "to just slap the shit out of me and get it over with," which resulted in Channing's eardrum accidentally getting popped. The take is in the film.

Steve Carell claimed that according to director Bennett Miller's wishes there was no joking between takes, and he did not socialize with the co-stars after work.

Before filming a particularly dark scene, Bennett Miller made Steve Carell write on a piece of paper the thing that he hates the most about himself and then put it in his pocket. Miller told Carell, "Just have it right there, and know that it's in a place where, if I was a dick, I could just grab it." According to Miller, the result is the favorite thing that he has put on film.

Steve Carell studied video footage of John duPont for hours. Carell told reporters after the film's screening at the Cannes Film Festival "I watched as much as I could, I read as much as I could about him and tried to get semblance about the type of person he was." According to director Bennett Miller, Carell's career as a comic actor hadn't suggested that he was right for the role until he had lunch with the actor. Miller said upon Carell's casting, "I think all comedians are dark."

The real Mark Schultz can be seen as an extra weighing in wrestlers in one scene. He was also very personable and approachable to the extras in the crowd scenes.

In the 1984 Olympic games Dave and Mark Schultz were accused of "excessive brutality" in their Olympic matches and a special official was assigned to monitor the rest of their bouts. Two of their opponents went straight to the hospital after their matches. Mark, 23, broke the left elbow of the 180.5-pound European champion, Resit Karabacak, 30 seconds into the match. Dave, sent Yugoslavia's Saban Sejdi to the hospital with a knee injury incurred during their 163-pound match.

Because the project took so many years to get off the ground, many actors were considered for the lead roles. Heath Ledger, Ryan Gosling and Bill Nighy were strongly considered for the lead roles in the early stages of production.

This is the third consecutive Bennett Miller film to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role after Phillip Seymour Hoffman's win for Capote and Brad Pitt's nomination for Moneyball.

The screenplay for this film was featured in the 2008 Blacklist; a list of the "most liked" unmade scripts of the year.