"Sun's out, guns out" ran the tagline for the first of this year's reinvention-of-Channing-Tatum movies. This one looks at first glance like an autumn update ("Weather's mardy, slip on a cardie"?) but it's a bit of a shock to see Tatum solo.
Yes, his performance – as a lunkish wrestler groomed for repeat Olympic glory – was praised by the critics when Foxcatcher premiered at Cannes. But not especially more than that of Steve Carell, whose turn as the eccentric philanthropist who mentors him was surely the film's key.
The logic isn't too hard to fathom. Face-on Tatum makes for an easiest sell than Carell sporting false snozz, grey hair and plucked eyelashes. (Leaked stills revealing him in all his creepy glory at the end of last year were swiftly taken down.)
Today's image shed lights on a question troubling many in the aftermath of the slew of five-star reviews: how would the producers best position the film for maximum awards impact? Would Carell be pushed for best actor, and Tatum best supporting? The other way round? Might both slug it out in the same category?
This poster is only a first teaser, but it seems to suggest that Megan Ellison and her team are placing their heaviest bets on Tatum (with a nod to Bennett Miller, too; the surprise winner of best director at Cannes).
However it shakes down, Foxcatcher is – alongside Boyhood and Grand Budapest Hotel – one of the few Oscar lock-ins that have already emerged this year. The film opens in the US on 14 November and the UK in January 2015.
