Channing Tatum Looks Battered For Foxcatcher, While Steve Carell Goes Old-School

Channing Tatum has started to push himself in all the major aspects that separate the performers from the actors. Thoroughly immersing himself in the persona of Olympic wrestling champ Mark Schultz, Channing has sculpted not only his physique, but has managed to bring the inner focus and intensity of a boxer to his expressions as well.

Channing has managed to undergo an amazing transformation from his comical portrayal of mentally deficient Officer Greg Jenko in 22 Jump Street to hardcore wrestler for his upcoming movie Foxcatcher, based on the life of Mark Schultz. The movie’s central plot is Mark’s gold-medalist brother Dave, who was killed in 1996 by his athletic team’s sponsor, John Eleuthère du Pont. The brother is being played by Mark Ruffalo, reported People.

Foxcatcher, the movie meant to be released late last year, was abruptly pushed forth by Sony Studios. Based on Mark Schultz’s autobiography and tersely adapted by screenwriters E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher tells the story of how the young wrestler came to be coached by John Eleuthère du Pont – a member of the famous du Pont family, a patriot, a millionaire, and a paranoid schizophrenic.

Driven by his passion to live up to the legend of his brother, Dave Schultz, an Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler, Mark trained extremely hard at du Pont’s Team Foxcatcher wrestling center, even as John’s demands became consistently harsher and ever-more psychotic. Things came to a breaking point when du Pont killed Mark and entered into a standoff with the police, as he was barricaded inside his compound, reported Cinema Blend.

Choosing Channing Tatum for the role for the wrestler might have been easy, but there were many contenders to play the role of the psychotic John Eleuthère du Pont, so everyone was quite surprised when the producers chose Steve Carell for the role. Steve, better known was comical roles like Get Smart, may not appear to be an ideal candidate to portray a mean, demanding and bordering-on-insane personality, but has indeed proven the world wrong, with his trademark commitment.

Channing Tatum and Steve are wearing a lot of prosthetic makeup to ensure their looks closely resemble not only the characters they portray, but even their mindset and determination. The poster of Foxcatcher released earlier this year, shows Channing Tatum with a swollen bulbous nose. Though clearly it is the work of talented make-up artists, the effects of training hard to become an Olympic wrestler are quite apparent on Tatum’s intense expression.

[Image Credit |Yahoo, Sony Studio, eOne]