Director Bennett Miller’s Moneyball was one of the best films of 2011, so it’s with great anticipation that we look toward his follow-up feature, the real-life drama Foxcatcher.  The pic tells the true story of John du Pont, a paranoid schizophrenic who built a wrestling training facility on his 800-acre Pennsylvania estate where he subsequently shot and killed Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler David Schultz in 1996. Heir to his family’s chemical fortune, du Pont locked himself in his mansion for two days after murdering his friend, and spent the time on the phone with negotiators.

Miller has assembled a fantastic ensemble cast that includes Steve Carell as du Pont, Mark Ruffalo as Schultz, and Channing Tatum as Schultz’s brother.  Some set photos have surfaced today that feature a nearly unrecognizable Ruffalo as the Olympian alongside a very in-shape Tatum.  Hit the jump to take a look at the images.  Foxcatcher is set to hit theaters sometime next fall.

Columbia Pictures has picked up U.S. distribution rights to Moneyball director Bennett Miller’s real life drama Foxcatcher.  The film tells the true story of John du Pont, a paranoid schizophrenic who built a wrestling training facility on his 800-acre Pennsylvania estate where he subsequently shot and killed Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler David Schultz in 1996. Heir to his family’s chemical fortune, du Pont locked himself in his mansion for two days after murdering his friend, and spent the time on the phone with negotiators.

The swell ensemble cast includes Steve Carell as du Pont and Mark Ruffalo as Schultz, as well as Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, and Anthony Michael Hall.  Today’s announcement adds that Vanessa Redgrave has also joined the cast, making for one hell of an ensemble.  Production is underway in anticipation of a Fall 2013 release.  Given how great Miller’s past two efforts have been (Moneyball and Capote), it’s safe to assume that Foxcatcher will likely be an awards contender.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.

More casting notes today.  Check them out in brief below:

• Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn) is in talks to topline the period drama, Suite Francaise, from British writer/director Saul Dibb (The Duchess).
• Anthony Michael Hall (The Dark Knight) is the latest addition to Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, which already stars Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Sienna Miller.

Hit the jump for more on the above-mentioned films. 

Moneyball director Bennett Miller is filling out the rest of his cast for the drama Foxcatcher, and now Sienna Miller has jumped onboard.  The film tells the true story of John du Pont, a paranoid schizophrenic who built a wrestling training facility on his 800-acre Pennsylvania estate where he subsequently shot and killed Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler David Schultz in 1996. Heir to his family’s chemical fortune, du Pont locked himself in his mansion for two days after murdering his friend, and spent the time on the phone with negotiators.

Steve Carell is set as du Pont, Mark Ruffalo is portraying Schultz, and Deadline reports that Miller will play Schultz’s wife.  Channing Tatum is also set as Schultz’s brother.  As a huge fan of Miller’s Capote and Moneyball, I’m really excited by the impressive cast he’s put together for Foxcatcher and look forward to seeing the finished film.  Production is set to begin later this year.

With less than $300,000 separating the top three films this weekend, the final order of the domestic top ten has been difficult to call. Sunday’s estimates have End of Watch and House at the End of the Street tied for first with $13 million each. Warner Brother’s Trouble with the Curve is not far behind, however, so more definitive results will have to wait until Monday. One thing we can say for sure? Dredd 3D is off to a rough start.

Following a bit of a mad scramble to replace departing director Gary Ross, Lionsgate seems to have settled on his replacement for the impending Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire.  We recently learned that the studio had narrowed their list down to two choices: Moneyball director Bennett Miller and I Am Legend’s Francis Lawrence.  Now comes word that Lionsgate plans to extend the offer to—drumroll please—Mr. Lawrence!  Hit the jump for more.

With Gary Ross’ non-return to direct the follow up of his blockbuster film, The Hunger Games, Lionsgate turned to a wish-list of directors that included David Cronenberg, Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.  While those names were merely placeholders for a director with an arrow’s chance in Panem at getting the job (something we waxed poetic about in our recent podcast), two more names have cropped up that seem to have a bit more validity to them.  Reportedly, some conversations have already taken place with directors Bennett Miller (Moneyball) and Francis Lawrence (Constantine) to helm the sequel, Catching Fire.  Hit the jump for more on these potential candidates.

Though he’ll next be seen playing a scientist with anger management issues in The Avengers, Mark Ruffalo is looking to next play a full-blown wrestler for an upcoming role.  Variety reports that Ruffalo is in talks to join Moneyball director Bennett Miller’s drama Foxcatcher.  The film tells the true story of John du Pont, a paranoid schizophrenic who built a wrestling training facility on his 800-acre Pennsylvania estate where he subsequently shot and killed Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler David Schultz in 1996. Heir to his family’s chemical fortune, du Pont locked himself in his mansion for two days after murdering his friend, and spent the time on the phone with negotiators.  Hit the jump for more.

What if you made a scrappy underdog sports film that wasn’t funny? In some ways that’s what Moneyball is, it’s the story of Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and how he works with Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) to build a team to win using statistics over star players. Bennett Miller’s film is engaging enough even for those who don’t follow the game (and those that do may dismiss what they accomplished – as many have) but as a narrative it’s the rare serious attempt to tell an underdog sports story without focusing on jokes or the players. Our review of Moneyball on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

And so our 2012 Oscar Preview has come to a close. Over the past three days we’ve brought you our coverage of how the race stacks up for Best Supporting Actress and Actor, Best Actress and Actor, and Best Animated Feature, Screenplay, as well as the technical categories. Today, we’re covering the big ones: Best Picture and Best Director. There are two early frontrunners for the big prize, but we’ve still got a number of unseen pics that could play the spoiler. As for the director race, does Steven Spielberg have a shot at his first trophy in over a decade, or will an Oscar virgin take home the prize? Hit the jump for the current state of the race in the Best Picture and Best Director categories.

Steve Carell is going dark, folks. The actor has been set as the lead in Moneyball director Bennett Miller’s long-in-the-works true crime pic Foxcatcher, per Variety. The film tells the true story of John du Pont, a paranoid schizophrenic who built a wrestling training facility on his 800-acre Pennsylvania estate where he subsequently shot and killed Olmypic gold medal-winning wrestler David Schultz in 1996. Heir to his family’s chemical fortune, du Pont locked himself in his mansion for two days after murdering his friend, and spent the time on the phone with negotiators. The authorities were finally able to lure the man out of his house when they shut off his power and heat. E. Max Frye (Band of Brothers) and Dan Futterman, who penned Miller’s debut feature Capote, wrote the script.

Miller is no stranger to the true crime genre, as he expertly captured Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood research in 2005’s Capote. His latest effort, Moneyball, is one flat-out fantastic and I can’t wait to see what he brings to the decidedly strange du Pont story. As for Carell, his comedic talent is undeniable but he’s rarely gotten the chance to delve into drama. He showed promise in Dan in Real Life and Crazy, Stupid, Love., but Foxcatcher is a whole new league of dark. He’s an inspired choice, and I’m eager to see what he and Miller cook up. Production is set to begin in March.

At this year’s Toronto Film Festival, I was able to talk with director Bennett Miller about his new movie Moneyball.  Based on Michael Lewis’ book, the film stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the general manager of Oakland Athletics who helped usher in a statistical revolution to professional baseball.  Jonah Hill plays a fictional character based on Paul DePodesta and Chris Pratt plays Scott Hatteberg.  Moneyball also stars Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright and Stephen Bishop.

During the interview, Miller talked about making and editing Moneyball, deleted scenes and what will be on the DVD/Blu-ray, the amount of takes he likes to do, and his preference in film vs. digital.  He also talks about possible future projects, which includes something with Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Hit the jump to watch; here’s Matt’s review of Moneyball (which I also thought was great).

[This review is a re-print of my review from the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival]

The joy one gets from going to a baseball game is an intangible. You can keep the foul ball you caught in the stands or the souvenir cap you got at the gate, but there’s no quantifying the thrill of seeing a walk-off home-run or watching a player make a diving catch or seeing a pitcher strike out the batter with bases loaded. Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) presented an anathema to the intangible by trying to quantify every play and every player. The uproar against his plan was tremendous and oblivious. The game had already been quantified in dollars, and the A’s didn’t have much of those. What they did have was a willingness to rethink an unfair business to so they could have a shot at the championship. Bennett Miller’s adaptation of Michael Lewis’ Moneyball takes the interesting ideas presented in the book and transforms them into a funny, dramatic, and captivating tale that can hold competing ideas simultaneously.

The joy one gets from going to a baseball game is an intangible.  You can keep the foul ball you caught in the stands or the souvenir cap you got at the gate, but there’s no quantifying the thrill of seeing a walk-off home-run or watching a player make a diving catch or seeing a pitcher strike out the batter with bases loaded.  Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) presented an anathema to the intangible by trying to quantify every play and every player.  The uproar against his plan was tremendous and oblivious.  The game had already been quantified in dollars, and the A’s didn’t have much of those.  What they did have was a willingness to rethink an unfair business to so they could have a shot at the championship.  Bennett Miller’s adaptation of Michael Lewis’ Moneyball takes the interesting ideas presented in the book and transforms them into a funny, dramatic, and captivating tale that can hold competing ideas simultaneously.

Another trailer has landed online for Bennett Miller’s adaptation of Michael Lewis’ Moneyball.  While the book reads like a long, engrossing essay on the changing nature of baseball and the influence of sabremetrics, the movie looks like it will seize on the familiar tropes of the sports drama with a worst-to-first team, believing in stuff, and shocking the world with victory.  There’s nothing wrong with a well-executed sports movie and hopefully Moneyball can deliver.  The UK trailer throws in some new footage but like the previous trailers, it’s all about how Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) took a big chance using statistics to build the Oakland A’s rather than giant salaries.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Moneyball will play at the Toronto International Film Festival and open nationwide on September 23rd.