When Mark Ruffalo Slapped Channing Tatum Multiple Times During Foxcatcher: “It Was Easy To Do Because…”

Mark Ruffalo didn’t hold back when it came to slapping Channing Tatum on the set of Foxcatcher. The Avengers star spilled the details during a sit-down on Hot Ones, recalling how Tatum explicitly told to “slap the s*** out of” him for a scene. Taking his co-star’s direction quite literally, Ruffalo did just that—repeatedly. “He did ask me to slap the s*** out of him,” Ruffalo revealed. “It was easy to do because he’d beaten the s*** out of me so many times. It was like four months of learning how to wrestle.”

The 2014 sports thriller, directed by Bennett Miller, saw Ruffalo and Tatum transform into Olympic wrestler brothers, Dave and Mark Schultz, alongside Steve Carell as the chilling John du Pont. Their intense preparation included rigorous wrestling training—something Ruffalo clearly remembered with a mix of humor and pain. “He has like 30 pounds on me,” Ruffalo joked. “So when it came time to smack the s*** out of him, I was like, ‘Came from Alabama.’”

But the slaps weren’t all laughs. Tatum previously shared at the Cannes Film Festival how one slap left him with a temporary ear injury. “All of a sudden, my ear just started making this screeching noise,” Channing Tatum said. “Eardrums heal, so I’m fine.” The movie itself mirrored the real-life tensions that unfolded behind the scenes. Foxcatcher followed the unsettling true story of how John du Pont lured Mark Schultz into his twisted world, leading to a tragic unraveling involving both Schultz brothers. The film’s raw physicality demanded a lot from its stars—sometimes too much.