How Much of “Foxcatcher” is Accurate?
Much of Foxcatcher is fairly accurate, but there are some notable discrepancies. The film leaves out any mention of du Pont’s eventual diagnosis as a paranoid schizophrenic. In real life, du Pont’s mental illness was later offered as the reason for du Pont killing Dave. Curiously, the film suggests that du Pont’s mother was the cause of his insecure behavior even though some believe she was not an influence in any way.
Du Pont’s schizophrenia also manifested itself in real life when Dave was coaching in Foxcatcher. Mark recalls Dave and others describing such incidents as du Pont removing treadmills from the training center because their clocks were somehow transporting him back through time. Despite his long history of paranoid delusions and disturbing, erratic behavior (often times casually dismissed as innocuous eccentricity or the result of cocaine or alcohol), none of these incidents are explored in the film.
The film also downplays Mark’s initial resistance towards du Pont when he was offered the job. In real life, Mark believed du Pont did not know enough about wrestling and was even repelled by his personal hygiene.
While there was sibling rivalry that strained Mark’s relationship with Dave, the film does add some fictional details to play up their rivalry. Dave never took over as coach at Foxcatcher while Mark was there, he was hired only after Mark was fired by du Pont.