Cannes loves Steve Carell’s dark and twisted performance in Foxcatcher

STEVE Carell has taken on a creepy new look to play a dark and twisted character in his new film Foxcatcher. What, exactly, has he done to his face?

OSCAR buzz is already building for what is being hailed as Steve Carell’s career-best performance in Foxcatcher, which has premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Best known for mainstream comedies such as The 40 Year Old Virgin and Crazy Stupid Love, the 51-year-old actor is barely recognisable as of John du Pont, the eccentric multi-millionaire whose friendship with Olympic wrestling brothers Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) led to tragedy.

Make-under ... Steve Carell and Channing Tatum in a scene from Foxcatcher.

“It’s a very intense story. Very chilling,’’ he told News Corp Australia earlier this year.

“I put on some weight. Some of it’s make-up. I tried do different things physically that would alter how I looked, how I walked, and how I held myself.”

Bennett Miller, who directed the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in his Oscar-winning performance in Capote, said he cast Carell over l lunch.

“I knew that Steve could play awkward and eccentric but when I met him I realised how many layers there are, that he is one of these actors that has a public self and a private self — and you never see the private self, ever,” Miller told a press conference following the screening.

“ And I thought those protected guarded areas of himself might relate to this character in some way.”

Talent line-up ... Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum, director Bennett Miller and Steve Carell.

While the film was an all-clear, the same can’t be said for the weather, which left actresses clutching their dresses as strong winds picked up while they strut the red carpet.

Windswept ... Jessica Chastain attends the 'Foxcatcher' premier.

Jessica Chastain and Cheryl Cole put on a little show of their own as photographers looked on.

Gone with the wind ... Cheryl Cole poses as she arrives for the screening of the film Foxcatcher.

Hair-raising ... Jessica Chastain attends the Foxcatcher premiere.

Best dressed at Cannes.