AceShowbiz -

Steve Carell is nearly unrecognizable in the first image of Sony Pictures Classics' "Foxcatcher, in which the comedian stars as real-life John du Pont, who befriended Olympic wrestler brothers Mark and David Schultz before murdering the latter in 1996. For that character, he dons "a prosthetic nose" and sports grey hair.

To Entertainment Weekly who unveils the said pic, director Bennett Miller reveals why such funnyman as Carell, out of all possible names Miller could come up to portray the schizophrenic killer, is the right choice. "Because it's unexpected," he reasons. "John DuPont was a character who nobody thought was capable of doing something as horrible as he did. I did not want to cast somebody who would feel dangerous in that way."

"If I say I'm going to make a movie about a guy who's a schizophrenic murderer, there are probably a dozen actors who would immediately appear on anybody's casting list. And Steve would not be on any of those lists," Miller explains. "I just think there's a hell of a lot more to Steve than he tends to show."

Carell stars alongside Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo, with the former playing Mark and the latter his sibling. Sienna Miller is introduced as Nancy, who witnessed the murder of her beloved husband.

The movie is scheduled to open on December 20 in the U.S.