Mark Schultz was thrilled that the screenplay adaptation of his autobiography had landed into the hands Bennett Miller. In an interview with For The Win in November, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist spoke with For The Win about Miller’s film, Foxcatcher, which told the tragic tale of Schultz, his brother Dave, and the relationship the two had with John du Pont.

Du Pont created a training center – named Team Foxcatch – for American wrestlers in an effort to form a team that could consistently win Olympic gold, and recruited Mark with the promise of a $24,000 annual salary and a place to train. Mark departed Foxcatcher after a few short months, but du Pont was able to bring in Dave, also an Olympic gold medalist, to join the team. In 1996, du Pont shot and killed Dave while he was working on his car.

According to Mark, when Bennett read the screenplay he told him it was the film he was “looking to make for the past six years.”

“As soon as he told me he liked my story, I was like ‘yessss, I’ve got an A-list director on the hook,” Schultz said. “Now all I’ve got to do is reel him in. And we spent the next eight years working on it. He worked with other people, too, not just me. It’s his film. It’s my book.

“Movies are always bigger than books. And the fact that my brother is being immortalized is the best thing, to me, about the movie. Plus Mark Ruffalo has my brother down so perfect, it’s almost like Dave is alive again.”

Schultz has changed his view of the film in recent days, and went to Facebook to declare his dissatisfaction with Bennett’s film and to contest key details of the story.

https://www.facebook.com/MarkSchultzy/posts/10152526379206121

Excerpts from the post include:

“I never looked up to duPont as a mentor, leader, father figure. He was a lot dirtier the first time I met him and he was drunk.”

“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 duPont and I is a sickening and insulting lie.”

“I told Bennett Miller to cut that scene out and he said it was to give the audience the feeling that duPont was encroaching on your privacy and personal space. I wasn’t explicit so I didn’t have a problem with it. Then after reading 3 or 4 reviews interpreting it sexually, and jeopardizing my legacy, they need to have a press conference to clear the air, or I will.”

Schultz’s Twitter account also sent out this message.