Erstellt am: 20. 2. 2015 - 17:55 Uhr

Foxcatcher, ahead of the Oscars

Reality Check talks to Nancy Schultz, wife of wrestler Dave Schultz, murdered by John du Pont, about the tragedy that met her late husband at the Foxcatcher estate. We also spoke with our own newsman Steve Chaid who has a special connection with the Foxcatcher story.

Reality Check's Steve Crilley in conversation with Nancy Schultz, broadcast Saturday (21st February) at 12 midday on FM4.:-

The Oscars are taking place this Sunday evening and there's a lot of interest focused, in particular, on "Foxcatcher". Steve Carell is nominated for his acclaimed portrayal of John du Pont, the multimillionaire sports benefactor who killed his top wrestling athlete, Dave Schultz.

Foxcatcher is a vivid, true life story about the wrestling community on the du Pont estate, that turned into a tragedy with the murder of Dave Schultz. Ahead of the Oscars, Steve Crilley speaks with Nancy Schultz, wife of Dave Schultz. She tells us what life was like living on the Foxcatcher estate and the build-up to the tragedy that ended in the death of her husband.

Reality Check's Riem Higazi also spoke with our own newsman Steve Chaid who has a special connection with the Foxcatcher story. His brother Dan was a wrestler who trained on the Foxcatcher estate alongside Mark & Dave Schultz. And Steve himself also lived for the best part of year on the estate. He gave Riem some of his recollections about that time.

Riem Higazi: Tell us what you make of this movie "Foxcatcher" and how it portrays the events you were close to?

Steve Chaid: "Foxcatcher" is really Mark Schultz’s story (Dave Schultz’s brother). But you can’t tell the story of Mark without telling the story of Dave. The murder of Dave Schultz happens at the end of the movie but it is pivotal to the lives of everyone. The way you have to see it is that the wrestling community is made up of fierce individualists. But as individual as they are, there was one person at the centre of this wrestling community. The sun in that galaxy of wrestling was one hundred per cent Dave Schultz. When he was killed, the sun disappeared and all of these planets of people went into completely different orbits. His brother Mark Schultz, Dan Chaid, my brother, were all very close to Dave Schultz. Nancy Schultz, Dave’s wife, their children all went on a completely different orbit and that is why this is such a compelling story.

Riem: The man who murdered Dave Schultz, John du Pont, he had this compound. You were there so what was it like?

Steve: I lived on the Foxcatcher estate for the best part of 1991. And the Foxcatcher estate is this massive piece of lush real estate outside of the city of Philadelphia. It’s about the size of the Viennese Prater but all private property. There was a big mansion at the centre of it and there were lots of houses built around the grounds. There were big gates and once you came through those gates, you were in a different world.

John du Pont was the primary heir to the whole du Pont chemical industry fortune. And he was eccentric, which was interesting for a while because eccentricity is particularly interesting to wrestlers. Wrestlers are (themselves) eccentric people and they thrive on eccentricity. There has to be something a little different in the way your mind works to pursue a sport like that. These are intense (sports)people and by choice they train indoors for their entire lives to become one of the elite few that can compete on the Olympic stage.

So the eccentricities of John du Pont were completely normal for the wrestlers on the estate until they became dangerous. It was funny when John du Pont drove his Lincoln Continental car into the duck pond. It was funny when du Pont talked about people living inside the walls of his mansion. It was funny when he used to walk around in strange outfits and say bizarre things. But then he started to walk around in bizarre outfits with loaded weapons.

One day he walked into the weight room where my brother, Dan was training and he put a loaded machine gun against my brother’s chest. John du Pont had his finger on the trigger and threatened my brother about something that was a phantom in his mind. My brother was able to talk him down and get out of that situation alive. He told other people about this and said: OK, du Pont has now gone too far. He’s now crossed over the threshold and is now dangerous. It’s not that he just believes there are people in his walls. He now believes that we are trying to hurt him and we are trying to take action against him.

My brother warned people then packed up his belongings and he left as soon as he could. John du Pont responded by burning his house down the same day my brother left. The other wrestlers were all training for the Seoul Olympic games and there was too little time for them to readjust their lives. The result was the phantoms in John du Pont’s mind told him to go after Dave Schultz for some reason and he did.