“Foxcatcher”: The Rage Over Homoeroticism
“Foxcatcher” is about how a strange, obsessive, ostensibly Olympics-driven relationship between Pennsylvania millionaire John Dupont (Steve Carell) and former Olympic wrestling champ Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) led to Dupont shooting Mark’s older brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo). The real-life Schultz has been highly complementary of the film and director Bennett Miller (left) over the last several months, but he’s suddenly changed his tune and thrown both under the bus, apparently over concerns that the film points to a homoerotic undercurrent between Carell/duPont and Tatum/Schultz. This real-life story screamed gay panic from day one, and I’m amazed that it took Schultz (right) so long to respond to it. Even Freud would have been exhausted by this thing.
