Steve Carell‘s presence in a film almost guarantees it as a comedy, but his role in Bennet Miller‘s Foxcatcher is anything but. Steve Carell has played the serious straight-man in comedies (such as in Crazy, Stupid Love or Little Miss Sunshine) before, but this will be his first foray into drama. We think he’ll be amazing. And if he isn’t he’ll still be hilarious.

Steve Carell plays John du Pont, a millionaire schizophrenic who built his own wrestling training facility (called Foxcatcher) in the 1990s. Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk himself) plays Dave Schultz, Olympic gold medalist in Freestyle Wrestling and du Pont’s friend, who was murdered by du Pont in 1996 as part of his schizophrenic delusions.

Bennet Miller’s previous work was Moneyball, also an adaptation from true events, which received 6 nominations at the last Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Hopefully Miller can bring around some of the magic again. His first major decision, casting Steve Carell as a paranoid schizophrenic, was inspired. We’re looking forward to it!

The film will be co-financed by Annapurna Productions, whose mission statement is to back quality films, regardless of whether they are expected to earn their money back or not. Other projects by Annapurna are The Master, Killing Them Softly and Zero Dark Thirty, the upcoming Kathryn Bigelow film detailing the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Alongside Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo will be Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller and Vanessa Redgrave. This is shaping up quite nicely.

How do you feel about Steve Carell making a move into serious acting? The next big film star or a bit of a joke?