Channing Tatum Body Injuries For Cannes Film ‘Foxcatcher’
Currently, Channing Tatum’s latest dramatic turn in the film Foxcatcher is racking up extremely positive reviews in Cannes. The often fickle group of critics at the Cannes Film Festival are very openly discussing Channing Tatum and Steve Carell as front runners for the Oscars because of their performances in the true crime drama based on the murder of an Olympic athlete.
If Tatum gets nominated for an Oscar, it will be well deserved, just going by the amount of work he put into Foxcatcher. According to Tatum, he endured several bodily injuries to portray real life wrestler Mark Schultz.
“I’m pretty sure I broke my hand in the movie in the training. You’re just throwing bodies around and you get caught in different angles.” To make sure his performance was authentic, Tatum made sure to train and compete against real-life athletes.
One brutal scene sees Tatum asking Mark Ruffalo, who plays his brother, Olympic wrestler David Schultz, “to just slap the sh– out of me and get it over with.” For that particular scene, Tatum remembered a close call as Ruffalo slipped and made contact with the actor’s ear.
“He pops my eardrum. All of a sudden it’s just making a screeching noise. I can’t hear anything.”
The reaction that’s seen on screen was an actual reaction from Tatum. Thankfully, Channing’s eardrums have healed since that scene. However, that wasn’t the only painful moment the actor endured as far as bodily injuries go.
During another scene, Ruffalo is supposed to lose it and slam Tatum’s head into a mirror as shards of glass break everywhere. Tatum said of the scene:
“I went through the wall on the other side. I missed the stud by about four inches. I was lucky. But the cut on my head was real.”
When interviewed by the LA Times, Tatum said, “It was the hardest acting challenge I’ve had to date.”
In real life, Mark Schultz went on to become a two-time world champion in freestyle wrestling, an NCAA National Champion, an Olympic Gold Medal winner, and he is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Back in 1991, he was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most elite level titles won by a U.S. wrestler. His murdered older brother Dave was also an Olympic Gold medalist, NCAA National Champion and World Champion wrestler.
As we previously reported, the Daily Mail Online said of Foxcatcher:
“Meanwhile, the powerfully disturbing true-crime saga debuted to rave reviews as critics predict a clutch of Oscars for the 134-minute movie.”
Foxcatcher hits theaters on November 14, 2014, which is right in time for Oscar season.
[Image via Sony Pictures]
