Series/Themes: Spotlight Screenings

Film Year: 2014

Locations: USA

Film Length: 134 min

Director: Bennett Miller

Featuring: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, Sienna Miller

Olympic Gold Medal winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Tatum) is summoned by wealthy John du Pont’s (Carell) estate to help form a team to train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics in his new state-of-the-art training facility. Mark, hoping to escape the shadow of his brother Dave (Ruffalo), a revered wrestler, eagerly jumps at the opportunity but soon finds himself spiraling into self-destructive, confidence-breaking habits under the unqualified “coaching” of du Pont. Winner of the Best Director Award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, director Bennett Miller explores real, complex characters in society that earned him Academy nominations in his previous feature films (Capote and Moneyball).