Wrestler Mark Schultz's support for the movie "Foxcatcher," based on his life and career, has increasingly waned over the last couple weeks. He gave his most scathing review in a Facebook post on Dec. 30 that highlighted all of the artistic liberties taken by the film.
"I was already an Olympic and WORLD champion before I met du Pont. The director took my 1985 World Title away in the film," Schultz starts the post, referring to director Bennett Miller.
The Olympic gold medalist discredits most of the interaction depicted between him (played by Channing Tatum) and John du Pont (played by Steve Carell) in "Foxcatcher." He takes particular offense to a scene that insinuates a "sexual relationship" between him and du Pont.
"The personalities and relationships between the characters in the film are primarily fiction and somewhat insulting. Leaving the audience with a feeling that somehow there could have been a sexual relationship between du Pont and I is a sickening and insulting lie," Schultz wrote.
He claims he asked Miller to cut the scene, but the director explained he needed it to "give the audience the feeling that du Pont was encroaching on [Schultz's] privacy and personal space."
Schultz has since apologized for the "harshness" of the language in his post, but has not changed his position. He also has written about the lack of credit he's received for his contribution to the film, given that it's his life story.
"My story and my life are real. I am a real human being. While I may have tweeted out of anger, I in no way regret standing up for myself, nor do I regret calling out the only other man who has had decision making power concerning my image and legacy these past years," he wrote in another Facebook post on Jan. 1.
Schultz continues to champion the actors Tatum, Carell and Mark Ruffalo, who plays his late brother Dave Schultz, murdered by du Pont in 1996. He believes Tatum should receive Best Actor accolades, but wrote that the actor "created a fictional character using a few of [Schultz's] personality characteristics as jump-off points."
He also has plugged his book, "Foxcatcher: A True Story of Murder, Madness and the Quest for Olympic Gold," more frequently in the last couple weeks. Similar to the way he's backed support off the movie, he also stressed in one Facebook post that his co-writer Dave Thomas was responsible for the final version of the book.
