Nearly two years after Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher premiered at Cannes Film Festival, Netflix hits the mat with a new documentary about Olympic gold wrestler Dave Schultz, who was killed by multimillionaire John du Pont in 1996.
Team Foxcatcher, streaming Friday, uses interviews, news clips and home video to look at the years leading up to Schultz's death, and how du Pont spiraled from a well-meaning benefactor to a convicted murderer. But unlike the 2014 Oscar-nominated drama, which starred Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum, Dave's brother and fellow wrestling champion, Mark Schultz, doesn't appear.
USA TODAY talks to director Jon Greenhalgh and Dave's widow, producer Nancy Schultz, about the differences and similarities between the documentary and film:
TIMELINE
In the movie: du Pont (Carell), a wealthy wrestling enthusiast, invites Mark (Tatum) to live at his estate in Newtown Square, Penn., where he has built a private training facility for wrestling's elite. Mark wins the 1987 world championship, and Dave (Ruffalo) moves to the farm shortly after to join Team Foxcatcher.
Fact or fiction? Fiction. "Our family and Mark were never on the Foxcatcher estate at the same time," Nancy Schultz says. Mark worked on the farm for about a year as Villanova University's assistant wrestling coach, leaving in 1988. Dave and his family arrived in 1989 and stayed until his death in 1996. "By the time Dave was murdered, Mark had not stepped foot on the farm for almost eight years," Greenhalgh says.
SIBLING RIVALRY
In the movie: Although both are Olympic and world champions, Mark feels overshadowed by his older brother. Dave, who is favored by du Pont. As tensions flare, Mark decides to leave Team Foxcatcher.
Fact or fiction? Fiction. "That just made the film a little more delicious, to have that kind of atmosphere," Schultz says. "They trained together and really supported each other from a very young age."
SEXUAL ADVANCES
In the movie: A sexual relationship between du Pont and Mark is implied: with a dimly lit scene of them practicing wrestling inside du Pont's mansion and Mark, half-naked, cutting du Pont's hair and snorting cocaine.
Fact or fiction? Fiction. In 1988, former Villanova assistant wrestling coach Andre Metzger filed suit against du Pont, alleging that he lost his job because he didn't accept du Pont's advances; the case was settled out of court. From Greenhalgh's interviews and research, "John was asexual. That's what everyone would say." Schultz adds that in her seven years at Foxcatcher, "never was there any discussion that John had made advances on anyone."
DAVE'S MURDER
In the movie: After increasingly erratic behavior, du Pont drives to Dave's house. Dave greets du Pont, who asks, "Do you have a problem with me?" before shooting him three times. Dave's wife, Nancy (Sienna Miller), witnesses the murder from the doorway.
Fact or fiction? Fact. Schultz was on set when they shot the climactic scene, and says that Ruffalo and Miller worked hard to get it right. "It was a really emotional day," Schultz says. "They did it almost exactly the way that Dave was murdered."
