September 30, 2011 
Uh huh. Steve Carell is attached to star as real life chemical fortune heir and paranoid schizophrenic John du Pont in Bennett Miller‘s upcoming biopic Foxcatcher.
According to Variety, the project has been in the works for the past four years. No doubt the recent success of Miller’s Moneyball helped push forward production.
For those unfamiliar with du Pont’s life story (and it is a doozy), here’s a quick primer on his most notable exploits:
A sports enthusiast, du Pont built a wrestling facility (called Team Foxcatcher) on his enormous estate. It was on this estate that he shot and killed Olympic Gold medal-winning wrestler David Schultz. After the shooting, he holed himself up in his mansion and negotiated with police for two days. He was also an amateur conchologist. He died in prison last December.
Dan Futterman – who penned Miller’s first film Capote – has written the Foxcatcher script with E. Max Frye.
Discuss: A good role for Carell?
Some of the creepiest baddies have been comedians in their other roles – James Robertson Justice, Robin Williams and Martin Short come to mind as making wonderful sociopaths. So it will be interesting to see whether Mr Carell can join the greats, or not.
I’d watch that.